Needless: Saten Alternate Part 1
by A.D. Aldous Dragon
Summary: Here, Saten doesn't exist but a boy takes his place. Placed on HOLD FOR NOW.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my second fic and my first in Needless.**

**Will be a long story.**

**EDIT: Improved and thx for the reviews!**

Another long day at school. He fingered with his pen, spinning round and round and letting it carelessly fall once in a while. Around him, these people, these classmates, continue to chatter on mindlessly. Usual topics are about love and the current events. And by current events, he meant the Needless incursions.

His hand absent-mindedly reached for the locket tied firmly around his neck. A memento. For someone he has lost to them. Them. The Needless. His fist clenched in rage, he surpressed his anger in vain. His teachers always said he had anger management issues. They were right but he didn't give a damn.

"Fenris? You Okay?" A girl familiar to him called out as she laid a chair beside his for a seat. "Are you angry?"

Fortunately, Aldous can be angry with anybody but Kaysin. A girl who had transferred to Black Spot Saint Academy just 2 months ago. She always got his name wrong, calling his Fenris, but he never minded. She was one of the few, or maybe the only one, who listened to him and her words never failed to calm him down a notch. "Nothing, just thinking about the Needless attacks. Looking at how many they have killed, you can't really believe why so many here would actually support them. Are they mad?"

"Maybe they see the Needless as hope. You do know about the corruption here. Propaganda, radios, even the Net has been choked full of bad mouthing of the Needless. Too full."

"It ain't propaganda if it ain't false. Needless are vicious no matter what. They deserve to die. All of them with no exceptions"

"So if I were a Needless, would you kill me?" Aldous gawked. He realized he had been trapped again by her and quickly took back his words.

"I mean, you're different, Kay." "How different, Mr Fen?"

Aldous, caught at a loss of words, kept quiet for now. Personally, he hated Needless for their power. Their almightiness. Once, his entire family were terrorized by a Needless. He remembered his dad's words in his mind:

_Know this son. Remember how 'great power comes great responsibility'. Well a Needless doesn't follow that._

A load of wolfs trying to hide in the sheep's clothing of supposed justice, the Needless. The devastation they caused in the most recent attacks is unforgivable. "So if you hate them so much, tell me who you hate the most?" Kaysin popped a question.

"Only one in particular. Adam Blade…their strongest."

"Why?"

"Why? Because he's a monster damn it! He is said to have took down two whole blocks in a single blow and I've heard that he had personally ravaged over 200 people in the recent atatck. Some say he even humiliated several girls. So the guy is both a monster and a pedophile, with no sense of respect."

"That's what you heard. Have you met him?"

"If I met him, I'll be dead. And I ain't. So, no. Can we talk about something else?"

"What about? Love, like others, or what?"

"No love, thank you. I've listened one too many love tragedies, you expert anti-Cupid." They laughed at his joke as the bell rang signaling the end of school. The tense atmosphere had dispersed with their talk and they continued on while they exit the building. "You going home on your own?" Aldous inquired as they walked down to the school square, a large cement assembly place.

"Yep. But I can see you…" _Rumble…._

Aldous and Kay looked in shock, along with many others as the ground began to split. And by split, it didn't physically split. It was like someone created a giant whirlpool of stone. But the hole itself seemed to appear in and out, as if the fabric of space itself was being tampered with. And when the hole appeared, a group of armored figures appeared from within. Their steps disturbed the whirlpool, or rather, the manipulated space, creating pool-like ripples. Once through, the figure on the left-most, a short girl with wavy yellow hair, relaxed her fist and the square returned to its normal form. A Needless.

"Kusaki. Any signal of Needless here?" The tallest one, cloaked, in the group's fore spoke out to his supposed subordinate, a stubby bespectacled engineer wielding an unusual scanner.

"Yes we have comfirmation."

"What is the meaning of this?" The school's principal rushed up to the group, his clothes as fine as ever. "Why has Simeon stepped in here?" He was extremely hasty, even desperate, as his medium form shivered in the group's presence.

Aldous stood watching. "Simeon? The pharmaceutical group in power. Impossible! They have a Needless! It can't be!" Thoughts race through his mind as the principal continued to discuss with the group.

"….you can't do this. It's not good for publicity. Maybe you can do this after…."

"If you won't cooperate, move out the way..." The tall man gestured to his right-hand man and the man removed his hood, revealing a heavily scarred bald head with vicious eyes. Really vicious eyes. The scarred one still towered the principal and gave him a little push.

The principal flew out of the way, into the wall nearest Aldous and Kaysin. Aldous covered Kaysin from the debris, as the mangled body of his former principal lied in three pieces, all embedded in the wall. "Another one! And they killed our principal. Why? Isn't Simeon the good guys?" Aldous glared at the tall man and witness the eyes hidden under the hood. A deep blood-red. One strikingly similar to the one he hates the most. Adam Blade.

"So which child is the Needless?" The tall one inquired his busy engineer and the scanner suddenly pointed at Aldous and Kaysin some distance away from them. It gave a shrill "deeee".

"Which one?" "The girl, definitely that girl with the yellow hair." Aldous, eyes-widened, glanced at the one he was covering. Kaysin is a Needless? It can't be! He had known her for so long and has never seen her use powers at all. If she was a Needless, he would have known. Besides the school itself practises a strict no-Needless policy. If a Needless was found, they would hand it over to the authorities by now. She couldn't be a Needless. The ground shook as Aldous noticed the scarred man approach them, his stature threatening. "...Fenris...help...me. I'm…..not…..a…..Needless…" Kaysin mumbled in fear as she clung on to him. Her eyes were teary and her teeth was chattering away.

"I can't let them hurt her." Aldous resolved. Once he noticed that Blade is among them, he knew what was going on. These are actually not Simeon operatives. These are Needless rebels as a disguise. Adam Blade is among them. And it explains the presence of Needless and the murder of the principal. Most importantly, he can't let them touch Kaysin. "STOP!" Aldous rushed himself at the scarred one. But it was futile. The man was way stronger than him. With a hand, he grabbed Aldous by the collar before throwing t

"Argh!" He felt himself being thrown to one side as the scarred one barely even acknowledged him. The Needless adanced towards Kay with slow deliberate steps. "No…..don't….touch….her…."Aldous murmured as he struggled up, his chest hurting from the impact and his breath knocked out of him.

No,the man was almost upon her. he could kill her. He must stop him. He needs power. He needs power to stop them. The power to stop Needless.

He needs to be Needless.

With that thought, Aldous immediately felt something rush into him and his mind became to click, like a well-oiled machine. It took hold and he noticed that he no longer could understand what he was doing. Numerous concepts, energy, heat, transmission, absorption came to him all at once. If he was himself, he would have been overwhelmed. But he is not himself. At the same time, the floor around him began to have a layer of spreading ice and the air began to fill with thick mist. "What the hell?" The scarred one turned to Aldous, sensing the sudden temperature drop. "You're the Needless!"

"Kusaki!" The tall one gasped. "I'm not getting any readings from him. The scanner is not picking any fragment energy. He shouldn't be… He couldn't be…" The enginner double-checked his equipment again and again.

"Fenris….?" Kaysin managed to speak.

But he couldn't hear her. In his mind, he could feel something building up inside him. Got to channel it somewhere. Somewhere. But where? His hand. As naturally as if he had done this move thousands of times, Aldous raised his clenched fist, straightened his arm and pointed it at the scarred one.

Energy lines began forming around his entire forearm and he watched, his mind calmly working its way to control the build-up. His fist, its vessels protruding and visisble began to glow a white-bright. He could feel the pressure he was exerting behind him, as a draft could be heard, and recognised the flow of the wind running from this concentration of energy. The ice continued to spread and even take shape, forming ice crystals everywhere except in front of him.

Inside his heart, he could feel his rage build, both choking him and motivating him. Right now, anger management no longer mattered and he allowed himself to dwell in this blinding _ira_. His rage at the Needless. His rage at the destruction. His rage at this world.

His rage at himself. Target locked.

"Dai-Yon-Ha-Do."


	2. Chapter 2

**Dai-Yon-Ha-Do has been released!**

**Can Aldous stand up against the scarred needless? Please review.**

"Boooommm!"

Aldous mentally gasped as a huge beam of heat came rushing out of his fist, charging headlong into his target. At first, the scarred opponent took the brunt of the beam, its size easily dwarfing him. However, his enemy is a Needless. He won't go down so easily.

"Damn you. _Concussive Shot_!" The man raised his hands against the beam and just like how he blew away the principal, a wave of force pushed against it. "My concussive force can knock away just about anything. Give it up, boy!"

Aldous wanted to respond, but he couldn't. Hell, his own body is on auto-mode. He can't control it. But he could sense his energy levels waning. His wave won't last long. His mind then went on overdrive as it began to think through his opponent's power. "His power is concussive force. Other words, pushing force. So he can push things away. But only pushing….." Aldous got an idea. He didn't know how or when. It was as if it had just popped out into his head. But he can't dwell on that. An idea is an idea and it should work.

With his other hand, Aldous began to absorb energy from ground. Ice continued spreading and his own wave boosted in power. Yet, the man's force remains strong and continues to hold it off.

This lasted for half a minute. But it felt like an eternity for Aldous. Absorbing and releasing. The process continually tires him and his rate of absorption can't keep up with the wave. The Beam begin to shrink. As according to plan.

"You're weakening. Surrender, boy. You can't penetrate this force."

"We'll see about that." Aldous felt a grin come up. His plan is set. "What is this!" He grinned even wider at the opponent's yell. The man's legs were covered from toe to hip in ice, a consequence of Aldous' constant absorption of heat from the ground. And he made sure it was only in that particular direction. Surprised by the rise of the ice, the man lost focus, his force began to weaken.

Now. Aldous released the hidden store of energy he had been saving up and the small energy beam, instead of widening, intensified. "Dai-Yon-Ha-Do, Version Laser!" A even more concentrated beam. Furthermore, the beam shrunk even more, to the point that it looked like a long glowing pike.

"SHIT!" The man focused all his concussive force on the point that the laser struck. And the force held. The laser was not strong enough. "Hah! Surprised me there boy but your laser can't penetrate my defenses."

"Oh, I'm not betting on the beam to beat you." Aldous felt himself speak. It wasn't like him. Something else was speaking but it was not him. Who? He searched through his mind. Nothing. It was still going on as normal. Is this really himself? He felt a shiver went down his spine as he prepared for what was about to happen.

Then, BANG! Aldous gawked as the concentrated concussive force imploded and the man was pushed back by the resulting impact.

_Explanation: A force concentrated on a single point from bearly all directions creates a collective force in the centre. However, once the collective force is great enough, the point will collapse on itself, creating what is known as an implosion. This causes all the force to push out, thus pushing the man back and breaking his defense._

No longer hindered, the laser proceeded to cut through his body, through the wall behind it, through the wall behind that wall, through the third wall, before stopping at the fourth wall.

A hole in his chest, the man screamed, his eyes widened and mad in pain. Blood spurted out of the red hot wound as he fell back. And that's not all. The ice did more than surprise him. As he was pushed back by the huge implosive force, the ice stayed steady. However as a consequence, his legs snapped in half and the portions below the knees was left gruesomely frozen, leaving only stumps of legs on the man.

"Ahhhhhhh…..AHHHHHH!" His screams were never-ending, the man clutching his wound and what's left of his legs. Aldous stood there, watching the scene wide-eyed and shocked. He had never expected such a consequence. He only wanted the implosion, not the dismemberment. At that instant, he felt anger no longer, fear now replaced that. Fear for his powers. His mind was no longer his own. He was a monster, just like all the Needless he had condemned.

His hands shivered with that revelation. As the screams of the dying man continued, Aldous struggled to keep his mind intact. It was shattering like how a stone had just hit a window.

Then he got a kick. A kick squarely in his chest. Aldous felt himself fly a good three metres as the tall man he know as Adam Blade gave the powerful kick he had felt. Or is that really Adam Blade? But did Blade had a glowing right red eye, which Aldous could barely make out under the hair? Was his hair that white and smooothed down? "I remembered his hair was grey and more spikey. And he had two good eyes." He thought as he flew. His mind no longer had the same control as before. His fear has disabled him.

"I never thought that you would be this strong, boy. Strong enough to take out Rave." This Adam kicked the broken body of his fallen comrade in disgust. "Oh you're up already." Adam smirked at Aldous. Aldous stared into Adam's eyes. One organic, one mechanical. "Who is this? Did I mistake someone else for Adam Blade?" He thought as he struggled to keep his shivering legs up. His body was tired, its own energy stripped from the excessive transfer of the heat within his body. " Are you Adam Blade?"

"Adam Blade? Don't compare me to that failure. Now die..."

The tall man, clearly not the Adam Blade he was looking for, suddenly appeared in front of Aldous with incredible speed, towering over him, before granting him another roundhouse kick. Aldous took it with his arms and skidded back from the force, trying to catch his breath. "Dean Drive: Fox Hound." The Adam-lookalike grinned before suddenly disappearing. Aldous turned and sure enough, the man was right behind him, mid-way of a punch.

"ARGHHH!" Aldous felt himself being assaulted by a barrage of invisible, speeding fists and could barely dodge this onslaught of blows. He successfully blocked some but most got through, hitting squarely on his upper body. He was flying again.

Now his mind was aching with pain and paralysed with fear. His body had been numbed by the impact of the blows. He couldn't feel the smash when he collided into the wall. He couldn't feel his own large weight when the man suddenly seemed to have increased gravity, making him unable to move. His vision was beginning to blur and the taste of blood in his mouth did not bode well. His shirt was torn and its buttons ripped off, covering little more than his sides. He was practtically doomed.

"Now, sleep, Needless. Your God commands you to." Aldous could feel it. The slithering tendrils of death, in the form of the man's hand, are closing around his throat and he can't do a thing about it. He didn't want to die. Not yet.

Then, someone got between them. Who? Aldous struggled to look and he saw a familiar girl. "Isn't that Kaysin?" At first it looked like the girl that he had been protecting. Then he noticed something different. She was becoming taller and her clothes were changing. In a whim, her hair was now blue instead of yellow he had remembered. "What….the….hell?" His mind could barely take in what happening around.

Out of the blue, a large black jacket came into view, right beside this new girl. No, a trench coat. As his vision began to blacken, he could make out the man under it. Gray hair. Black Shades. A crystal in his forehead. Even if he is half-dead, there's no mistaking those features.

"Adam…..Blade…?" And Aldous felt nothing more.

**So the real Adam Blade has made his move. And you can guess who was Aldous' fighting in the first place.**

**And who is the girl?**

**Aldous: You're cruel, A.D. Making me suffer all that.**

**Me: Hey I made you. I can do whatever I want.**

**Aldous: Dai-Yon-Ha-Do**

**Me: Oh oh...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Aldous faints but what becomes of him next?**

"So you're awake….."

Aldous felt the light overhead hurt his eyes. As he slowly awoke, he picked up the faint voice. His head hurt. His body was tired and worn. But he was alive. How?

"Fenris, don't exert yourself." A hand appeared from the side and its owner remained out of sight. His vision is now unstable as he continued to take in what has happened. The hand slowly pushed him back down onto the bed and his vision finally returned to normal.

Mustering some strength, Aldous turned his head, his neck killing him with weariness. For a while, he couldn't make out the face but once again his vision recovered. "Kaysin?" He gawked at the yellow-haired girl. "No…." He then thought back to the time of his passing-out. "You're not really Kaysin, are you? Kaysin is not even your real name, Needless."

"Guess I can't hide it anymore." A completely different voice. Aldous watched as the girl he knew as Kaysin morph, her body enveloped by a bright light and unusual orbiting rings. Once they cleared, a completely different girl was in front of him. She had blue flowing hair, her eyes a matching azure and she was dressed in what may seemed like ragged clothes, comprising of a purple tank-top barely covering her abdomen and a short white Greek-like shirt, attacked by rings. Her forearms were wearing what seemed like remains of white sleeves.

"Eve at your service. Eve Neuschwanstein."

"Neusch-what?" Aldous stared at the girl. She didn't look much older than him but being able to mimic Kaysin was quite a feat. "So where did you take Kaysin?" He begin to absorb the room's heat and used the new-found energy to grab at Eve's neck.

"Slow down, Fenris…."

"Don't CALL ME THAT!" He nearly grabbed her before a tree branch suddenly got in his path, inches away from his target. It was from Eve's back. "How….?"

"Hold your horses, tiger. I didn't kidnap 'Kaysin'. I am Kaysin." The girl morphed back into the girl Aldous recognized as his classmate before reverting to her true form. "She was a person created by me. A disguise. I needed her to watch you."

Aldous, wide-eyed with shock, calmed down as he felt his tiredness returned. "Why….?"

"This isn't the first time….. you have used the Fourth Wave."

"The Fourth Wave? You mean Dai-Yon-Ha-Do. I've never used it bef…."

"..fore? You have…. You just don't remember."

"When?" Aldous noticed his surroundings. He was in some sort of crudely-built medical room, made out of random pieces of metal and wood. Noting the lack of medical equipment, this was obviously not a hospital.

Eve took a cup of water and passed it to Aldous. "Have a drink first. Using that move obviously drained you."

"You used the Fourth Wave three months ago. That was the time of our 2nd latest raid on the city. We found you under the rubble of a building. However, no one ever reported ever destroying that building. The one who did….."

"….was me?" Eve nodded in acknowledgement. Aldous stayed silent for a while. Not only is he a Needless, he has actually done this before? How could he not realize this before? "And by 'our', Eve, you are referring to the Resistance, right?" Eve gave another nod.

"Then die, Resistance bitch!" Aldous raised his fist and it glowed bright with energy. "Dai-Yon-Ha-ARGH!" His body went numb as a sudden electrifying feeling went through him. Leaning back to the wall for support, he glared at Eve who was approaching him cautiously. "What the hell…!"

"I've known you for two months. I know you hate us. So as a precaution, I had placed an electric collar on you which automatically sends electricity through if you use large amounts of Fragment power. Please, Fenris…."

"My name is not Fenris. It's Aldous!" Aldous snapped as he struggled to control the spasms in his body.

"Sorry, I can't really remember names well. But we are not your enemies….."

"Hah! Tell that to the people you kill during the raids!" Aldous tried to pull the collar off his neck but it stuck fast.

"Those people were killed by the Simeon head-hunter ships. You should know that."

"If you haven't invaded the city, the head-hunters wouldn't have even attacked! So you're to blame!"

"Then explain why we invade the city? We are not there to kill people."

"Bullshit! I…"

"Just shut up, okay!" Aldous, jilted by the sudden outburst, stopped and glared back at the Needless girl. "Jeez, you got to calm down sometimes!"

An awkward silence followed. Aldous continuously continued to struggle with the collar, while Eve seemed to be thinking what to say.

"Prove it."

"Huh?" Eve gazed at Aldous, who finally gave up. She was obviously confused.

"Prove that the Resistance is not the monster I thought they were and Simeon is the monster instead. If you are indeed the Kaysin I used to know, then maybe there are some in the Resistance who are good. But I'm not saying that I will necessarily help you. I just need to know."

"Aren't you afraid…..?"

"that you'll lie? Don't worry, if you do, I can still kill you." With a wave, Aldous felt the electric collar freeze. With a forceful grip, he pulled it off, its form fragile due to the cold. "The collar might prevent me from firing energy, but it still allows me to absorb it. So are you gonna tell me or not?"

**So Eve tells Aldous the story of the conflict between the Needless and Simeon. Watch the anime or read the manga for insight. Please review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Eve now explains the situation to Aldous. Read on to see if Aldous accepts it.**

**Aldous: I'll still hate the Resistance.**

**Me: Up to you. You are still my character.**

**Aldous: Sigh.**

"Ah ha.. ah ha. So, if I am getting this correct, basically Simeon is the one hunting down the Needless. And they intend to create a God."

"Right, Blade and I had fought with their leader more than once. He intends to absorb all fragments to reach a god-like state."

"And he is?"

"Adam Arclight."

"Arclight…..And an Adam. So he is Blade's clone. Or rather brother. If what you're telling about the Adam Project is correct." Aldous thought back to the tall one. The right mechanical eye. The mechanical heart. The whiter hair. That definitely fit the description of this Arclight given by Eve.

"So your basic mission is to kill him. Then just put a bullet in his head."

"You think it's that easy. Hell, we have tried everything. Absorb his powers. Shoot him with bullets. Drill through him. Why, even an old friend of mine killed him. But that bastard just keep coming back."

"Old friend? Who?"

"Urm…Urm…." Eve seemed to wracking her brains. "It shouldn't be that hard." Aldous thought as he watched the girl struggle to remember.

"Well I forgot."

Face-slam to the ground, anime-style. "Urgh, are you an idiot?" Aldous teased the embarrassed Needless. "Nah, I just can't really remember names." Another face-slam.

"So that's your whole story, huh?" Aldous sat back on the bed. It was a lot to take in. Assuming Eve was telling the truth, Simeon is really the real culprit. If she is telling the truth.

A layer of ice began to coat the bed. Eve hurriedly got up, a drill forming in her hands. "I told you the whole story and you still don't believe me!"

Aldous glanced at his fist. It was glowing with the energy he had absorbed. Then he turned back to Eve, who remained in a fighting stance. Her eyes didn't betray any hidden motives or malice. His years of experience in such deduction has been crucial during his life. Now his experience tells him to stop. And the fear of the monster he became on his first fight returned to him.

"Alright." Aldous relaxed and his fist returned to its normal colour. "I'm just cooling the room. Your base, seriously needs an air-conditioner. I'm melting in here." Eve, surprised, reformed her hand and inquired the black-haired boy.

"You're not fighting us?"

"No matter who you belong to, you're still my friend for 2 months. That's the longest anyone has been a friend with me, even if it's on purpose. And I can read eyes. Yours tell me you are not evil."

"Evil? You seriously think there is just good and evil in this world?"

"I like to see it that way. White and black, I know how to deal with them. But grey….. I don't know how to react to that. So I ignore it and view the world as such."

"Wow, you're screwed up pretty tight. That's kinda….."

"Unique? Nope, it's a very common way of life of us city-folks. When something in-between appears, we ignore it, just to avoid trouble. Our life in the city is more hellish than you think. Do you know how I sometimes hope people can just lighten up, instead of being afraid and all cowardly to do anything? We are educated to mind our own business. But you know me. I'm a delinquent with anger management issues. So let's just say I not as screwed as them." They both laughed, remembering how Aldous would be widely considered as the worst student in school, despite his top-notch grades. His report card would be choked full of "Don't mind other people's business." Or "Stay out of adult affairs." He never gave a damn.

"SO you're a needless huh? So your fragment is…."

"Doppelganger. It allows me to convert calories into organic or inorganic materials, to a lesser degree for the latter. So the branch and the drill and the disguise are all parts of my fragment."

"Cool." Aldous notes the friendliness between Eve and him. Just like how they interacted as Kaysin and him.

"I see you are getting acquainted." Aldous turned to the new voice, and entering the room was a large muscular grey-haired man decked out in a black trench coat and a matching jeans. A pair of shades covered his eyes, which Aldous knew were a blood-red.

"Adam Blade….." Aldous suddenly felt his mood fall. He is fine with talking with Eve but the man he hates the most? Unlikely. "What are doing here?"

"Checking up on you. You got guts to take on Simeon head-on to protect someone. Even I wouldn't do that…."

"Unless it's for a loli girl…." Eve muttered under her breath. Blade heard her.

"Shut up, you're ruining my first impression on the new guy!"

"Erm, I already have a bad impression of you a long time ago." Aldous stated.

"Oh." Adam seemed to have a face of dumbfoundedness and a few moments of silence passed. "I have failed…." Adam suddenly crouched in a corner, whining like a baby, dejected by his failure.

"IDIOT!" Aldous, pissed off, did a classic falcon punch right smack in Adam's face. "I don't freaking care about first impressions, just get on with the story! You are making me tired."

After tidying himself up from the assault, Blade extended his hand to Aldous. " I'm just here to thank you for helping us. It's nice to see a new guy join the Resistance."

"I didn't join the Resistance." Silence and a draft of wind blew by.

"I've failed again…." Blade is back in the corner, sulking. "Aldous PUNCH!" Blade, sent flying by the massive blow, hit the wall of the medical room before bouncing off into the floor and then smashing into the ceiling like a energized pinball. Finally, he landed on the bed, which Aldous had got off, muttering something about panties and Paradise.

"Is he this stupid?" Aldous asked Eve who was sighing away.

"Yep, he is. Some sort of inferiority complex he developed."

**A few minutes later…..**

"So you are not gonna help us?"

"Nope, but at least I don't see you guys as my enemy. Now can I go home?"

Eve snapped at Aldous. "Are you nuts? Simeon knows who you are. They will hunt you down just like how they hunt down the rest of us."

"Then what do you suggest?"

Adam Blade answered. "Help us out as a member of the Resistance. If we beat Simeon out of the country, then they won't bother us anymore."

"Now you are sounding nuts, Simeon is an international organization. One country won't make a difference. Unless your goal is to….."

"Yes, we plan to kill Arclight. We don't know how but our old friend showed us that he wasn't invulnerable. If we can kill him, Simeon will be crippled severely."

"So this whole Resistance is created to kill one man? Well, seeing how strong he was, I guess I can't blame you guys for being desperate." Aldous slouched back onto the wall, giving it some deep thought.

"I don't have any relatives left in the city anyway and Simeon is probably watching my house. So I guess I'll join you guys. But only till we defeat Simeon." Aldous emphasized to Eve and Blade the last part. Blade grinned and with Aldous shook hands, both now temporary allies. Eve beamed, her job a success. However, she wondered how long this will last. If Aldous knew the whole truth.

**So something seems to be kept secret by Adam and Eve? But what? And this old friend, being mentioned twice? Watch the anime. I lied about something. Try to figure it out. Please review. **


	5. Chapter 5

"You are alright. Aldous is officially ready for missions." Aldous glanced at the girl wearing the Cyclops-like visor. She had white hair tied in two puffy pony tails and she was dressed in a girl's school uniform. Blade had introduced her as Disc-san, a Half. A human who had been mechanized. In short, a cyborg. Apparently, she has a fragment called Scan which allows her to scan not only a person's bios, but also his or her fragment of he has one.

"Good! And love the dress." Blade seemed to all over her, due to his phedophilic love of young-looking girls.

"Yes, it makes me look younger." Blade cheered as he continued to dance circles around her. Aldous could only sweat-drop. "But I'm still an old lady inside," She suddenly announced.

"Uhhhhh….."Aldous gawked as he watched Blade slumped on the ground, seemingly disabled by this sudden revelation. Another sweat-drop. Time to return to the topic at hand.

"You were talking about a mission?" Aldous poked Blade back to normal. "Uhh…Go to the base's central hub. Gido will give you instructions on what to do."

"Central hub?"

"It's the building that looks short and box-like. Just take a left turn and then a right turn after two junctions." Adam then went on to continue talking with Disc, as Aldous exited the medical room. The Resistance base was apparently a huge dome made out of pieces of metal and concrete and seemed to have five pillars, each comprising of some run-down or abandoned skyscraper. How the hell did they manage to hide out from Simeon for so long with such an obvious base?

Following Blade's directions, Aldous soon found the central hub. As he mentioned before, it was a decent-sized building, box-like and not very tall. It probably had two stories in it. Aldous reached for the doorknob.

BANG!

Aldous could barely react as the door opened in his face, giving him a good smack. As he flew back, a girl who seemingly looked Eve, with the exception of neck-length hair, ran out at high speeds. A few seconds, the girl ran back, staring at him as he laid on the ground, half-dazed. "You okay?" She was dressed in some sort of academy uniform.

"What the hell was that for?" Aldous roared as he rubbed on the bruise forming a lump on his forehead. "And of course I'm not okay!"

"Sorry, got a bit carried away sometimes. You know with my speed and all."

"A speed Fragment?"

"Yep. Name's Setsuna. Ex-Simeon, now Resistance."

"Ex-Simeon? Why did you…?"

"Sorry got to run. You know, important mission."

"Wha! Wait!" Vroom…! The girl disappeared in front of his eyes. "I didn't even tell you my name…." Aldous sighed as he continued to massage his forehead and entered the hub. It was like the medical room, fashioned out of pieces of metal and concrete but was much bigger and had much more advanced equipment, with power cables lining the walls, supplying electricity for the computers at work.

At one of the computer sets, smack dab in the centre, controlling a unprecedented load of 5 computers at once, was an old man, with white hair and a large bald spot on the top of his head. He was a scientist no doubt about that according to his garb. Occasionally the man took a break, sipping down a cup of coffee before continuing on. That was probably Dr. Gido.

"Gido?"

"Oh, I assume you are Aldous. The new guy."

"The new guy?"

"Sorry, it's been a long time since we have anyone new join the Resistance. So I'm kinda out of touch with how to talk to new additions. Despite our apparent popularity in the city, no one dares to get themselves in trouble, along with Simeon's endless propaganda. And the Black Spot citiznes remember what happened to the last Resistance." Gido sighed. The problem must be that bad.

Aldous understood. City people like him were indoctrinated with such a mind-you-own-business attitude, modeling them into mindless zombies by the time they became adults. He however, was lucky enough to withstand that, else he wouldn't have protected Kaysin, AKA Eve, before in the first place.

"So Blade said…."

"…That I got a mission for you? Yes and no. It is sorta like a mission but you won't be going out of the base at all. While Disc may deem as combat-ready, we need to gauge your mastery of the Fragment you possess."

"Mastery?"

"In the Resistance, mastery is key. Except for Blade, the only way to beat Arclight in a match is to execute a move that requires someone whose mastery exceeds Arclight's. His Zero might seem limitless but he has been beaten before. There are boundaries his Zero cannot exceed."

"By Zero, you mean?"

"Oh sorry. Told you so. Not very good with talking with new guys. Zero is the name for Blade's and Arclight's Fragment."

"So it is the Fragment of Memorization, huh? Should have expected that." Aldous remembered the Speed shown by Arclight. Then he wandered to Setsuna, the girl who nearly smashed his head open. So that's how his power worked.

"Arclight is slightly different from Blade's. His is Positive Feedback Zero. The Fragment of Amplified Memorization."

"A fragment that fires back an amplified version of his opponent's ability…That's tough to beat."

"Correct. But at certain levels, not even memorization can do everything. And Arclight's is even more vulnerable…"

"I know what you mean about Arclight. If I am correct, Arclight does not have the ability to reverse this amplification. Thus he frequently will fire out overly powerful versions of his attacks. But at the same time, the weakness of each attack is amplified. It's like how you have a shield with a single weak spot. If you make it bigger, the defensive properties are amplified, but the weak spot grows from a single dot to a large area, making it more vulnerable."

"Well done, you catch up fast. But you only explained the second part. By certain levels, I am referring to the ability to manipulate one's ability. We rank these levels by way of the 9 levels of the Christ. Angel, Arch, Principality, Power, Virtue, Dominion, Throne, Cherub, Seraph. Arclight and Blade's Zero can only copy up to the Virtue version of your ability so going beyond those give you the edge. Eve, for example, is a Dominion-level. For a good comparison, you can say that the equal level of the Second himself would be a Throne. That is why it is important to master the single fragment you have. You, as of now, are an Arch-level."

"Arch?"

"Usually, you would be an Angel at first but your ability, heat energy-conversion, requires relatively more control in order to sufficiently utilize. But an Arch is still not enough. By the end of the mission, I expect you to be a Prince-level. Got it?"

"Yep. Erm….so can we begin?" Aldous looked around, expecting someone to walk up to him and lead him to whatever testing room or lab. "So how is this gonna work?"

"Simple, we have someone fight you."

"What!" Aldous gawked. A fight! Right at the very beginning of his joining of the resistance.

"Is there another way?"

"Yes there is, we can send you climb Mount Everest 10 times. There is a 20% chance you will become a Prince." The good doctor seemed to be fully serious, as if he wasn't joking.

"I see, so I have no choice, huh?" Aldous sighed. "So where do I go to fight this guy?"

"Guy? Oh no, you are fighting a girl. Her name is Setsuna…."

"The speedster! The one who banged my forehead!"

"Oh so you met her. Nice girl. She can be a great help at times, though she has taken the loss of her sisters pretty hard."

"Sisters…?"

"Talk to her after you fight her. She should be around here in 3….2…"

Vroom. Aldous flew half-way across the room into the wall as he was shoved off by a speeding bullet of a girl. "I've got the letter delivered. How's my time?"

"Not bad. You beat your previous record by 1 second. That makes it 3000 kilometres in a minute flat. That brings you to exactly Mach 10."

"Only a second….Damn….."

"But on to your next assignment. Then you can rest. The boy you just pushed into the freaking wall is Aldous. He's a newbie so you need to train him."

"Train him? Boy? You mean the guy embedded in the wall."

"Yes him." Setsuna quickly pulled Aldous out as he gasped for air, before giving her a good old Aldous Punch in the face.

"What the hell was that for?" She roared, glaring daggers at him.

"That's for smacking me in the face!"

"I said I was sorry!" "Sorry ain't gonna cut it!" "You Jerk!" "Speeder!" "Injury-prone!" "Mad girl!"

"Alright, that's IT! I don't care if Gido told me to train you. You and me. One-on-one. Outside."

"You're on! I'll sweep you off your feet!"

"I'm sure you can try!"

Bang! The duo ran out to do battle. Meanwhile, Gido simply looked on. "Ah, they are making friends already….."

**Sorry may have gotten a bit carried away. Please review.**

**So Aldous and Setsuna are about to fight. Who will win?**

**Aldous: B****!**

**Setsuna: Asshole!**

**Aldous: Workaholic!**

**Setsuna: Idiot!**

**Aldous: Jackass!**

**Setsuna: Skinny!**


	6. Chapter 6

Aldous cringed as he and Setsuna faced each other outside the central hub. Now he was regretting his sudden outburst. Hell, he saw how fast she was. Can he keep up? Unsurprisingly, a rather large circle of people began forming around them, interested in seeing how this will turn out.

Among them, Gido was even walking around asking for bets. "How screwed can this place get?" Aldous sighed as Setsuna finished stretching. "You ready, Aldous? I'm all fired up."

"Just don't burn me with you. And yes I'm ready."

Bam! Right after his reply, Aldous was kicked from behind, Setsuna using her amazing speed. Aldous quickly recovered before blocking another kick from her. "I'm not holding back, Aldous."

"Dean Drive: Fox HOUND!" Aldous was once again pummelled by the same onslaught of punches he had experienced from Arclight. This time, he was much more successful but still two punches hit him on the shoulder and the gut. As she finished her combo, Aldous took his chance and kicked at her. But she disappeared again, this time appearing a few metres away.

Aldous held his injured shoulder as he tried to comprehend Setsuna's speed. "She's fast. That's for sure. But at such speeds, that means….."

"You going to stand there all day? Well, here I come!" Setsuna sprinted, appearing behind Aldous. "Dean Drive: Assassin's Hand." She smirked.

"Wha…Argh!" Aldous screamed as he felt his body being jabbed at several points. "Didn't think she is that fast….." He felt his left hand shiver and spasm uncontrollably. "Nerve attacks? Acupuncture by hand?"

"Amazing isn't it?" Aldous looked at Setsuna as he struggled to control his arm. "Hitting the right nerve can cause a great amount of instability in one's movements. And my speed make that effect last even longer. I'm surprised you managed to control the arm so fast though."

"Damn…" Aldous got back up in pain and his arm snapped back in control. "But why did she only attack one of my arms? She would have an advantage if she attacked both? Unless…."

"I won't give you time to think!" Setsuna dove at Aldous once again but Aldous was ready this time.

"What the…" Setsuna gasped as the floor began to freeze and in her speed, she slipped, falling into a heap. "Tsk…an ice floor. At my speeds, this could be dangerous." Setsuna then took another dive, this time her speed much more reduced. "But you still can match up to my speed. Dean Drive:…."

"Argh!" Setsuna gawked as Aldous side-stepped her. In an effort to turn, she found herself skidding before falling to the ground. Her nose began to bleed. "So you have figured my weakness, huh?" She spat as she struggled up.

**Explanation: Setsuna's incredible speed possesses two weaknesses. One, at high speeds, she can only have tunnel vision, meaning she can only move at a straight line clearly. This is why she only attacks one side of Aldous' body. Two, speed requires deceleration. At normal ground, this would be easy for Setsuna. However, Aldous freed the ground, making turning and deceleration even more difficult.**

"Now that your speed is down, I can beat you." Aldous began to charge up as the ice continued to thicken. "Dai-Yon-Ha-DO!"

"Oh no you don't. Dean Drive: Soaring Wolf!" Aldous watched as Setsuna's right arm began to spin at very high speeds. In seconds, a huge turbulence of wind came at him. Aldous' own beam of heat collided with the wave and the collision persisted for a while, before both waves cancelled out each other.

"A turbulence created using your spinning arm's suction force. Impressive."

"A beam utilizing the heat you take from the environment. You are not bad yourself for a rookie. This is definitely not the second time you fought people before. Uhh…" Setsuna suddenly gripped her arm. Apparently moving at such high speeds seems to injure it. "I probably can't use that move again without risking my arm. So I'll beat you up instead." Setsuna sprinted carefully, exchanging blows with Aldous.

Despite him having disabled her ability to run, Aldous noticed that Setsuna was using her speed much more differently. As they fought, he felt like he was fighting against someone with multiple arms. "Using your speed on your arms to attack faster. Should have guessed." Aldous gave a straight kick before receiving three punches in the face. Both skidded back from their blows.

"I can't beat her like this…If I use Dai Yon Ha Do, she could easily move away or just kick me while I'm charging. If I fight hand-to-hand, I will be at the losing end."

Principle-level…..He needs to attain that level. What if….?

Aldous began to charge up this time, this time instead of clenched fist, he allowed his palms to be open. Setsuna, seeing this, charged once again and the duo locked hands in a push-of-war. "I'm not letting you fire that beam again! And if you try to freeze my hands, I can simply speed them up to break the ice."

"Then do you have a way to break the heat?" Aldous was ready. Time to show her what he is made of.

"Wha…." Setsuna felt her hands become hot. No…it was Aldous' hands. She gasped as they began to glow. "But you are not in the right stance to shoot….."

"Shoot? I'm not going to shoot. I'm going to burn. Instead of firing energy, I concentrate energy into my hands, making them living incinerators."

"That's just like…Aruka's Agni Shiwattas…" Setsuna quickly broke the hand-lock and jumped back, away from Aldous' burning hands. She felt her own hands burn and gasped at te scalding it has received from the contact.

"A friend of yours?"

"Now an enemy. She is from Simeon."

"Agni Shiwattas, huh? Well then, this is my Dai Yon Ha Do Version Agni." Aldous could feel himself smirking. While he was in control just now, his body is moving on its own and his mind was back to the same efficient state again.

But he must focus on Setsuna. This time, he will do it right. He will just disable her, not kill her.

"Then I will finish this in one blow." Aldous gawked as Setsuna jumped into the air. "IF I CAN'T DEFEAT YOU ON THE GROUND, THEN I WILL BEAT YOU FROM THE AIR. DEAN DRIVE:….."

Aldous' mind clicked and he quickly took a stance, as he readied to face whatever is coming. "Dai-Yon-Ha-DO…."

"ROCKET SLED!"

"AGNI-RYU!"

The circle of people watched as Setsuna dive-bombed at the speed of Mach 9, while Aldous charged at her in a shape of a blazing dragon, his hands forming its wings. Smoke poured everywhere on collision and for a while no one could make out who had won the collision.

Eventually, the smoke dispersed and both Aldous and Setsuna appeared, their backs to one another. "Not bad for a rookie….." Setsuna grinned as she begin to fall.

"You are strong yourself….."Aldous also begin to fall to the ground. The crowd gasped as the duo fainted on the spot and the battle was marked as a draw.

While the crowd brought the two to the medical room, Gido looked on from one side. "Good show, Aldous….. Good show…."

**So the battle ended in a draw. What awaits for Aldous next?**


	7. Chapter 7

"So I guess neither of us won this round."

"Next time, I'll definitely beat you, Setsuna."

"Ha, ha….. in your dreams."

Aldous smiled as he laid in the same medical bed as before, with his bruises bandaged and treated. Lying in the bed opposite his across the room was Setsuna, who was more treated for burns rather than bruises, courtesy of the Fourth Wave's heat properties. Aldous could feel the blow in his stomach. Rocket Sled. A punch at Mach 9, which is more or less 6903 mph. Faster than any Jet Aldous remembered in his history lessons.

"You sure that fist of yours is okay, Setsuna?" Aldous noted that such a move should have a huge backlash.

"It's alright. Probably need a few hours before I recover but I have natural resistance to kinetic forces when I'm at Speed." Setsuna cautiously flexed her arm but it moved in a uncontrollable fashion. "What about you? Maintaining heat at your hands could have probably injured the cells there."

Aldous finally realised what was stinging and looked at his hands. Sure enough, they were scalded but nonetheless okay. "They are fine for now. I guess, both of us used double-edged-blade moves."

"Heh, I never that much fun since…" Setsuna's face suddenly darkened and she halted mid-sentence. "Since…Since…."

"Since your sisters?" Setsuna snapped out of her trance. "How do you know that?"

"Gido told me before you arrived. Who were they, your sisters? You can don't want to if you wish."

"No it's okay. Their names were Mio and Kuchinashi. Kuchinashi was the second oldest while Mio was the youngest. Mio, as you would expect, was always so bubbly and cute every time while Kuchinashi loved to use pen and paper to communicate despite the fact that she can talk…..Yeh…" Aldous noticed tears forming in Setsuna's azure eyes.

"Sorry about that. You shouldn't….."

"I told you already it's OK!" Setsuna suddenly gave an outburst. Then she quickly receded back to her normal self. "I'm sorry. I just….hate it when people pity me…"

"I understand. It's awful. That feeling of helplessness as you watch others helping you. Knowing the fact that you can't find a way to repay them for such sympathy. That's why you always take those errands right. You want to repay them."

"Yes….Yet despite everything I did to help them, I still don't feel satisfied with the help I give. I just want to get stronger and then repay in a more fitting way than petty errands." Setsuna sighed as she seemed to pondering about something.

"You better now, Setsuna?"

"Yeh. Maybe I should tell you a bit more about my sisters. Mio was a Power-user. She carries around an innocuous-looking teddy bear. However, she is the only one who can actually carry it for that bear weighs a ton. If you try to carry it, you will probably get your hands crushed."

"Ouch your sister sounds dangerous."

"Ha, sometimes. And Kuchinashi is a Fragrance user. The fragrance she creates can attack your nerves and stop you from moving. And her ultimate can make you sleep in a never-ending dream of your biggest desires."

"Sounds to me that you guys make a good team."

"Yeah, we did. In Simeon, we were known as the Reaper team. Few could beat our Power-Speed-Fragrance combination."

"So what happened? How did they die? Oh shit, I'm sorry." Aldous mentally cursed himself.

"No worries. I wasn't really ready to tell you just now but I'm okay now." Setsuna consoled him. "And they didn't die."

"Huh? Then why…..?"

"Simeon has indoctrinated them. Brainwashed them somehow. Before we escaped Simeon, we were chased down by their hunters. Mio and Kuchinashi sacrificed themselves to let me go free. But Simeon didn't kill them. Instead they turned them against me. I don't know how they did it but the next time I met my sisters, all their old personalities had disappeared and they tried to kill. I barely survived that fight."

"Must be tough fighting someone you love. So are you trying to free them somehow?"

"I'm looking but like I said, I don't know how Simeon did it. Cruz is helping me out but…."

"Cruz?"

"A young boy but an old member of the Resistance. A really amazing deducer and a great help for the team at times. He empathizes with me 'cause he has to fight his own sister, the one I mentioned as Aruka."

"I gotta respect both of you. Fighting someone you know has to be excrutiating, especially when you hurt them."

"Yes, it was." Setsuna admitted. Then, she paused, as if thinking about something. "You seem awfully familiar about the feeling. Have you…?"

"Me? No, I'm….Uh…just using my head to figure it out."

"You sure?" Setsuna raised an eyebrow, suspicious.

"Uhm…..it's getting late. I think it's best to rest now. Good night." Aldous hurriedly receded into his bed and left Setsuna no chance to continue.

Setsuna watched as the boy seemed to be going into a deep sleep. "Oh well. Maybe it's nothing." And she too went to bed.

But Aldous wasn't really sleeping. He was wide awake, just feigning sleep. "That was close." He thought as he mentally gave a sigh of relief. "Sorry, Setsuna. My past is too dark for you to know. Not yet. I just hope you don't have to do what I have done in the past."

**So Aldous himself has a dark past himself. Thanks for reviews. You can theorize if you want. This story has many unanswered questions, so yeah, do your thing and hypothesize.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Eve: How many chapters have gone by without me?**

**A.D.: Only three…**

**Eve: Three! I can't even tolerate one and you left me out for THREE?**

**Aldous: There she goes again…**

"RISE N SHINE !" Aldous was jolted from his sleep as a huge trumpet out of nowhere blasted the voice into the ear. As he jumped up awake and dazed, a certain blue-haired girl chuckled as the trumpet reverted back to her hand.

"Damn it, Kay…..I mean Eve. Do you really have to do that? And what about Set-" Aldous glanced at the opposite bed. It was empty and laid properly, with a letter on it.

"Good luck to your ears!" Along with a cheeky-looking face.

"It figures. She left me in the dust." Aldous sighed as he got up lazily. And lazily turned to hurriedly thanks to a few more amplifications of Eve's voices. In 5 minutes, he had brushed, showered and changed before finally exiting the room along with Eve. "I'm hungry," He thought out loud.

"I'm not," Eve giggled as she drank down a very familiar canned drink. "Super Gel Doro Doro…..?"Aldous then had his stomach growl again. He is really hungry now. His eyes began to twitch and he could feel his mouth began to water.

"MINE!" Aldous pounced at Eve, as the two struggled to fight over the famed 5000 kilocalories drink. Apparently Aldous is a fan.

By the time they finished struggling, Eve and Aldous had each drank a quarter of the drink. The rest went to the earth. "You like it?" Eve inquired, neatening herself as she got up.

"Best drink on Earth! Never left home without taking a sip. The perfect breakfast." Aldous beamed as he lapped up the last of the left-over juice. Eve raised her eyebrow, watching the teenager licked his lips. "Seriously? I only drink it to provide me calories for Doppelganger but I guess there's always someone out there who actually likes it."

Aldous felt the calories flowing in already and though it was only a drink, the Super Gel Doro did its work and his stomach was sated. He remembered the first time he drank it. Imagine yourself: Eating Willy Wonka's year-supply of chocolate in a single day and then adding a simple cup of coffee into the mix. That was what Super Gel Doro Doro felt like. A hyper, epic, energy drink which one can of could last you a week if you drink it carefully.

"So what now?" Aldous inquired Eve.

Eve, surprised by the question, began to think. "Oh man, I was going to ask him to buy some drinks since Yamada is not around but seeing he likes it, he'll probably glug down the whole bunch before leaving one for me….."

"Erm, Eve?"

"Ah…..Uh…." Eve could not find anything. Then she was saved by the loudspeaker.

"ALDOUS,EVE, PLEASE REPORT TO THE CENTRAL HUB! THANK YOU!" Loudspeakers everywhere announced the message and with the dome acting as amplifiers, the simple message became a booming roar of words determined to knock the words into your head while you are deafened. Aldous now understood that Setsuna referred to more than Eve's trumpet.

"Alright let's go," Eve quickly headed for the hub, her Doppelganger providing her with earplugs that had saved her. Meanwhile, Aldous followed along, stumbling, his ears now a noisy wreck as he found his balance messed up by the noise. Slowly and **painfully,** he managed to find his way to the hub by some miracle and recovered before entering inside, right behind Eve.

"Eve, Aldous, congrats on completing both of your tasks." Gido addressed them. "This next task mainly concerns Eve but I decided that Aldous should come with you. An old friend of ours has told us that Yamada is currently in trouble. He has been detected by Simeon during his recon mission and you have to get him out. While it's no problem to extract him with Eve alone, but someone is already onto him. A Needless called Telnure Gorae of the hidden fist. No info on his fragment yet, so we will cautious with this one. Take Helios if you must. You need to be fast. Now go quickly."

As soon as that was said, Eve was out as fast as lightning, with Aldous hurriedly following her. "Who's Yamada?" He asked as he followed her down a road.

"Didn't Setsuna…..?" Eve noticed the confused look on his face. "Ugh…damn it…..Me and my habits. Remember how I call you Fenris. The same happened. Yamada is actually Cruz Schi-forgot his name. But we need to help him. That old friend of ours is reliable and he hardly jokes so this is probably serious."

"And this old friend is…?"

"Sorry, even within the Resistance, we need to sanction information so if a member is captured, then key information is not leaked." Aldous sighed as they continued running. To a small shelter. Like the rest of the buildings in the base, it seemed run-down and hand-made but it was a lot older, with mold and rust crawling all over it.

"So we are meeting this Helios?"

"Yes, she should be here by now."

"She-?"

Aldous felt the ground rumble. Then he watched as the ground began to twist and split. "No way…..Not that girl…."

Sure enough, a hole appeared in the ground and the space around it twisted , forming a special whirlpool. And out of it came the girl with wavy yellow hair. She was at most 12 years old but the scar on her cheek and the fire in her eyes implied that she was much more older. The girl that had brought Arclight to his school

"Helios…." Aldous quickly turned to Eve, "EVE! That's a…"

"…spy? Ha, shut your trap boy before you get yourself killed. I'm a mercenary, not a Simeon operative." The girl snapped at Aldous as Eve approached with a piece of metal.

"Here…your payment….." Eve gave it to the much shorter girl, who barely reached her chest-level.

"Ahh…..A fine piece indeed…This will do…" The girl shoved the piece under her cloak and in a split-second, it disappeared. As if it had warpped someplace else.

Aldous gawked. "No way….Your fragment…."

"Hmph! I'm surprised you never figured it out before," Helios smirked. "I am Helios, the Spatial Collector. Problem with that, boy?"

"Boy? 'm much older than you-." Smack! Aldous was given a punch from the back. He gasped as a fist appeared in mid-air before slamming into his face. "Spatial manipulation." Aldous gasped as he struggled up. The girl was not only young, she was also physically strong.

"Now just stand there and shut up." Helios grumbled, "Ha, rookies, always believing that they are the hero of somebody's fanfiction or something….."

"So are we going or not?" Eve asked the little girl. "Take us to Yamada now!"

"And his location?" Helios asked.

"Screw that, Helios! Your fragment allows searching for any person within space itself. So just find him and take us there."

"Fine. I already know where he is anyway. Just step into the wormhole and we will be off."

As Helios entered the hole, Eve slowly followed suit. Aldous was left and he edged closer to the hole, afraid that a spatial hole could rip him to shreds. Closing his eyes, Aldous jumped in.

As he jumped in, he was falling out of the hole, this time apparently in a building. The building was like an abandoned business building, though it was like it had been bombed numerous times with certain parts of it already collapsed. As he flew up before falling into a heap, Helios sighed.

"Dude…..have you ever played Portal? Never mind. Your guy is somewhere two levels up. And the hunter, he is closing on your guy. So I suggest you dudes get moving. And I'll leave this hole just in case you need to go back. So, adios, amigos."

"Hey, wait…." Aldous could not continue as the girl conveniently warped away. "Damn it, left us in the dust….."

"Don't worry, Fenris. It's just like Helios but at least we have a way to go back." Eve assured Aldous. "Now let's go!"

Aldous, heeding Eve's assurance, then got up. "Alright…."

The duo headed for the stairs, prepared for whatever obstacle is going to come at them.

However, unknown to them, a solo figure was hiding in the shadows, watching them as they ascended the stairs.

"Resistance scum huh? Now this is getting interesting."

**Eve and Aldous have arrived to save Yamada. And the Needless Telnure now awaits for them. Please review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Aldous: Long time no update!**

**A.D: It's just 2 days. Playing a bit of Skyrim!**

**Aldous: Seriously Skyrim is more important than us? **

**Telnure: Just get on with it!**

**Eve(points to Telnure): Who are you? Oh yeah, you're that Needless dude named….um…uh…Television! Yes?**

**Aldous: Oh man….**

**Please review!**

Aldous looked around as he and Eve sneaked up the stairs, scouting out for any sight of hostiles. Apparently he could not do a very good job for the rubble blocked out light from several areas. Perfect spots for an ambush. "Feels like I'm some snake creeping around on some super-spy mission." Aldous mentally told himself.

**Solid Snake in some place far far away: Achoo!**

**ALL: SHUT UP!**

Eve, at the helm, guided herself through the rubble and eventually the duo found themselves on the second floor. " Yamada!" Eve began calling.

"SHHH!" Aldous tried to shush Eve. " Are you mad? Calling at a place like this?"

"What do you suggest? Search every nook and cranny? In this crumbling place?"

"Uh…..Ok…..YAMADA!" "YAMADA!" "YAMADA!" No response.

"Wait a minute….." Aldous mentally slapped himself. Of course, he won't respond.

"CRUZZZZZ!" Aldous now called. His real name…..

"Huh! Is somebody there?" Aldous and Eve heard a faint voice calling out under some rubble. As they removed the rubble bit by bit, a green-haired boy popped out, his hair a mess and his tattered cloak hiding a blue-green clothes set. "Eve-san!" The boy proceeded to try to hug Eve.

"YAMADA, YOU IDIOT!" Aldous watched as Cruz/Yamada flew into a wall, thanks to the flying twin-leg kick from Eve. "You went on a recon mission on your own! And you make me have to miss the next shipment of Super Gel Doro Doro to save your sorry ass!..." Eve continued ranting. Yamada just laid there, smiling as if he had been used to this for months now.

"So much for a stealthy extraction mission." Aldous sighed. "And remind not to get that girl angry….." Aldous watched as Eve chased Yamada about in some robot-like stance, her hands in the air, yelling at him that he owe her a Super Gel. "You guys, are we going or not?" Aldous finally intervened. Cruz stopped running and stared at Aldous. "You a new guy? Hi, I'm Cruz." Cruz extended his hand

Aldous smiled. A nice guy, huh? "I'm Aldous…." Aldous was about to shake his hand.

"And my name is Telnure!" Suddenly, Cruz was hit on the side. Eve and Aldous gasped as a black-haired punk-looking dude in what looked like martial arts uniform appeared. However, they weren't surprise at his appearance. They were more surprised by the fact that Cruz was hit when the guy was five metres away.

Like as if he had been hit by an invisible fist…

"…..the Hidden Fist….." Aldous gawked.

"Yamada!" Eve ran to Cruz's side. The blow seemed to have knocked him out.

"Target sighted…" The enemy giggled as he suddenly began to punching in the air.

"Oh…..shit…." Aldous had a bad feeling. "Eve! Get down!"

"No need for that! DOPPELGANGER!" Aldous watched as Eve's arm morphed into a large metal shield-arm, covering both her and Yamada from the invisible attacks.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" Telnure seemed to have been hurt his fists. Then he smiled. "Just kidding…."

"Oh shit….I'm next…" Aldous thought. And he was right.

Aldous took the brunt of the invisible blows. It was like fighting Setsuna, except this time these aren't speeding fists. "The dude not even using his own fists. Then how….?" Aldous continued to fight on as he struggled to block the blows.

"Concussive force?"

Then Aldous remembered the Needless he had killed before. Then he remembered his father's words in the past. "There are 3 fundamentals to the Needless, not 1. But 3."

Aldous whispered them to himself as he dodged, using the rubble as cover. Eve meanwhile began to bring Yamada to the stairs, but a flurry of blows cut them off.

"One, a Needless can only have 1 fragment." Simple enough.

Eve's metal arm seemed to be holding. But something seems to be happening. Her arm is melting?

"Two, all fragments have a weakness."

Eve's shield then reverted to her normal arm and she quickly dragged Yamada behind some fallen concrete pillars as the rain of blows continue. Telnure, meanwhile, laughed maniacally as he seemed to conducting an orchestra. An orchestra of invisible punches.

"Three, no Needless that are not related by blood have the same fragment." The crucial bit. So this dude can't have concussive force. And it's not possible Telnure is the brother of the Force needless, else they shouldn't be separated. Aldous managed to get to Eve's side. She had taken a few hits but she was okay. "I need calories….."

Aldous was alone now. Eve is powerless and Yamada is knocked cold. And they are cut off from the stairs by a maniacal Needless. "Cold?" Aldous thought. Now he know what to do.

Telnure noticed the lack of movement. "Ha, probably making a plan behind the cover. Not gonna happen." Telnure walked around the cover. "Peek-a-bo….huh?"

Telnure gasped as he watched Aldous punched the ground to bits. The cold-frozen ground. The three Resistance members crashed through the first floor by sitting on the falling slab of ground from the second floor and just nicely landed on the same floor as the wormhole.

_Explanation: Aldous used his heat-absorption to super-freeze the ground. When frozen to very low temperatures, the ground becomes brittle and few hits is enough to smash it. Hence they could ride the broken pieces of the ground like a sled and go down two floors to the worm hole ._

Dragging Eve and Yamada, Aldous quickly threw them into the worm-hole. "They're safe now." Aldous thought. "And time to deal with this dude." If he lets Telnure use the wormhole, the Resistance Base will be compromised and vulnerable to Simeon attacks.

As soon as he said that, incoming blows came and he rolled out of the way. Telnure, sure enough, came running down the stairs, clearly angered. "Nice trick, Resistance scum. But I'll have fun beating you to a pulp."

Aldous continued to dodge as invisible punches smashed the ground where he used to be a moment ago. "This dude can only attack things in his line of sight." Aldous noted as he realized that Telnure couldn't attack them when they were behind cover.

As he dodged, Aldous analyzed his enemy's attacks. "Invisible punches, sight-based attacks….."

"And they all come from one direction. From him to the side of my body facing him."

Aldous grabbed a stone and threw it at Telnure as he dodged-rolled the continuous barrage. And the stone hit Telnure in the chest. "Argh…" Telnure felt the impact and the hits stopped. But not for long. Aldous quickly took cover again as the hits came raining down again.

"Strange….He should be able to see that coming." Aldous thought. "Now that I think of it…"

Lightbulb. Aldous knows what to do now. Gears in his mind now going on overdrive, Aldous quickly ducked out of cover. "Hey, Mr Telephone. Over here." Aldous taunted as he ran.

"You'll regret that mocking, kid." Telnure spat as he focused the blast at Aldous. Aldous grinned as he neared his target. A broken mirror. "Let's hope this works," He thought as he grabbed it.

Nimbly he trained the mirror in front of him and stopped running. Then something unusual happened. Aldous felt the hits. But just barely. He watched as the mirror reflected the 'fists' back at the ceiling above Telnure. "Why won't you….?" Telnure growled.

"Hey, Tele. Look up."

"Huh?" Telnure looked up and before he knew it, the weakened ceiling came crashing down on him. "ARGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Telnure felt his legs get crushed underneath the huge weight.

Aldous, taking his chance, grabbed Telnure at his eyes. "Dai-Yon-Ha-Do Version Agni….." Telnure screamed as his eyes began to burn and when Aldous was done, he used a bandage to cover up the horror that he had made.

"How did you know…" Telnure moaned as he began to lose consciousness.

"Well all I did was…Ah screw this…Let the author do it." Aldous sighed. "Please review!" Aldous smiled.

Question: Any idea what happened?

_**Explanation: This will be a lengthy one. There once was a Greek philospopher named Plato. He had came up with this theory: that light was emitted from our eyes, like old Cyclops. But of course we all know that is wrong. But this theory works on Telnure. Yes Telnure is a Cyclops. Then why can't we see these "optic blasts"? Telnure is no Angel-level Needless. He actually is an Prince-level and his fragment not only allows him to fire light from his eyes. He can also change the wavelength and frequency of the light to an extent. Do you know light is actually not just visible light but refers to the entire electromagnetic spectrum? There is actually light that we can't see with our naked eye. Such as infrared or microwave or radio waves. Yes all these are a part of light, just at drastically different wavelengths and frequencies .Hence the 'invisible fists'. **_

_**And using a mirror, one can reflect these waves just like light as long as the frequency or wavelength is not to drastically changed. And since Telnure is only a Prince, he can't change it that much but just enough to turn it invisible. Else, Aldous would have died.**_

_**One more thing, Aldous finally figured out thanks to the stone. Why couldn't Telnure see it or the fact that his light is reflected? This is because the only way you can see is when light is entering your eyes. For Telnure, light comes out of his eyes, so he becomes very blind, to the point that he can only barely see just enough to chase his opponent with his 'fists'. **_

_**Any more questions? Please put on a Review and I am sure to give an answer? Cheerio!**_


	10. Chapter 10

**Arclight: Finally I'm back.**

**Blade: Long time no see. Where you've been?**

**A.D.: Aren't you supposed to be happy that I left out Arclight for so long?**

Arclight, resting in a large giant lab-like canister filled to the brim with an unsual liquid, stared at the photo of the boy Needless that they had failed to capture. "Aldous Dragon….." Arclight cited the name that the school had 'willingly' given to them. He smirked as he remembered how he tore down the establishment piece by piece.

"Arclight-sama." Arclight growled as he was interrupted by his second-in-command, _Riru_Roukakuji. Or to be more accurate, this Riru is a clone of her. After she used her body to help revive Arclight from the dead.

"Yes?"

"We have lost track of Helios. The girl probably is helping the Resistance. Shall we hunt her down?"

Arclight got even angrier. "How many times have I told you not to tell me what to do?" He roared, stretching out a hand, using Psychokinesis to choke the purple-haired woman.

She gasped for air as she struggled to speak. "I'm….sorry….Arclight-sama. I've…sinned for ordering a God…like…..you…" Arclight, calming down, released his hold on her. As her lungs devoured the much-needed air, Riru continued to cough and choke at Arclight's feet. A sadistic smile on his face, Arclight spoke.

"No, we will not hunt her. She is after all just a bystander, a mercenary. Besides, her…talents…..have proved useful…..And how is our engineer doing with the project?"

Riru finally managed to get up and answered. "Kusaki has found that the project is at 50% synchro. He'll need more time to improve them."

"Fine. I'm in no hurry. He has 2 more months. Anything else?"

"Yes, Arclight-sama. We have found a potential candidate for the new Uten. She will not disappoint us like before. Shall we…?" Riru quickly stopped herself from making the same fatal error as Arclight glared at her menacingly.

"I'll see her myself. Pass me the portfolio."

* * *

><p>"Alright, Simeon dude. Tell us what you know." Blade slapped the now blind Telnure as he and the rest, Setsuna, Eve, Yamada, Gido, Disk interrogated the captured operative.<p>

"I told you I know nothing!" Telnure seemed to be acting like a coward now, trying to find his way out in a world of darkness. Aldous sighed as he looked at the poor fellow. Sure they might be enemies but blinding him might be a bit over the top. He and Eve had been treated for the bruises while Yamada had a healing from Eve after she got a drink.

Telnure continued to be slapped by Blade, screaming at Blade to stop and continuously claiming that he knew nothing. "I was …just….given a mission to capture the green-haired one….I…..I….don't know anything…."

"Liar!" Blade was about to slap him again but this time Gido stopped him.

"Enough, Blade. This one is useless to us in this state. He is suffering from trauma from blindness. You won't be able to get anything out of him." Gido calmed Blade down. "We should return him to Simeon…."

"NO, DON'T!" Telnure suddenly protested. "Arclight will kill me! Or worse!"

"All the more reason to send you back." Eve retorted back at him. Setsuna agreed. Aldous meanwhile stayed silent. Then he had a bad feeling.

"I would rather die than be sent back to Simeon empty-handed." The group gasped as Telnure, with this proclamiation, began gathering energy into his melted eyes. "He's planning to blow up himself. Get away." Disc quickly warned everyone.

However, Aldous did the opposite. Rushing forward, he quickly placed his hands on Telnure's eyes. "What are you doing?" Telnure roared as his eyes began to glow to critical mass. "Saving your freaking life!"

Aldous concentrated as he drew out the gathered energy from Telnure's eyes. Slowly but surely, the energy-build up began to recede and Telnure's eyes eventually went back to normal. Tired out by the energy generation, Telnure remained on the ground, coughing and trying to catch his breath. Meanwhile Aldous struggled up, feeling the energy swirling within him. He can't keep it in for long. "Everyone get back!" Aldous warned the group and aimed his fist at the skies. "Dai-Yon-Ha-Do!"

The group watched as Aldous' signature beam of energy flew up the sky, eventually dispersing into the air as simple heat. Once he released all of the energy, Aldous felt his knees give way and he fell, worn out. "Fenris!" Eve quickly went to his side, while the others also followed.

Telnure, sensing the one who saved him near, spoke again once he had his breath. "So you are Aldous?"

Setsuna quickly snapped back. "You got a problem with that?" Telnure shook his head and had his hands up in a sign of peace. "I'm just asking. Why did you save me?"

Aldous, regaining his strength as Eve tried to heal the tiredness off, gave his reply. "Because someone out there believes that you can be saved….."

"No need, Eve." Aldous assured her as he got back up. Telnure too got up, anticipating an attack from Aldous. "Will you join us?"

"Huh?" Telnure gasped as he heard the words. Disc then protested. "Aldous, that is not your deci-.."

"Quiet, Disc." Blade shut her up. "Let the boy try."

"So what will it be?" Aldous asked again. Aldous looked into Telnure's now blind eyes. His ability to read them due to experience activated and he could see a confused lost soul, who could never literally see eye-to-eye with anyone, due to the risk of blowing them off with his optic blasts. This man ,though a maniac in battle, is not evil. "Eve, can you heal his eyes?"

"Yeah sure but are you certain he won't fight…."

"No." Telnure quickly interjected. "I won't fight a person who actually saved me. Who are you, Aldous, giving an offer to your enemy?"

"Who am I? Ha ha…"Aldous giggled. "I'm just the boy who sees things in black and white. And according to me, Telnure, you are white."

"White?" Telnure gasped. His thoughts: "This boy isn't afraid of me….He is helping me? After the fight. But why?" Telnure remembered how he was recruited to Simeon: kidnapped, tortured and then forced to join them on the threat of death. This time it was different.

"Alright. Aldous. Your gamble worked. I have a life debt to you anyway and joining you is probably the best way to pay it off." Telnure sighed as he shook Aldous' hand in agreement. Yamada then exclaimed, "Wait a minute so he is joining us?" Setsuna sighed. "Oh well, I guess an Ex-Simeon myself can't argue against that."

"I'm watching you." Blade warned the black-haired man. "Oh shut up, Blade." Eve hit him in the face in a comical fashion. "EVE CANNON!"

"Naked with SOCKESSSSSS…!" Aldous sighed as he watched the shooting star of Adam Blade, sent flying by Eve's powerful punch. "A pedo as always…." He grumbled.

As all this happened, though he couldn't see it, Telnure could hear that he was right at home. No more strict Simeon briefings, no more reverence of the Arclight-God. Just liveliness and fun.

**Eve: Alright. Chapter end! So now let's give out the sides list!**

**A.D: Side's list?**

**Aldous: A list showing the sides of each individual. Please review!**

**I Simeon I **

**Arclight, Riru, Mio, Kuchinashi, Aruka, Kusaki**

**II Resistance II**

**Blade, Aldous, Eve, Gido, Yamada/Cruz, Disc, Setsuna, Telnure**

**III Unknown III**

**Helios, Uten Candidate/Havoc, Old Friend :)**

**Next time: Arclight meets Havoc! A new Uten?**


	11. Chapter 11

**So here is after Telnure has agreed to join the Resistance.**

Aldous sighed a breath of relief as he rested in the medical room, his body still feeling the wear from the energy draining. For some reason, after going into the medical room for so many times, the group has accepted that it is his official bed-room. Some sort of bedroom. Now that he has time to rest, Aldous allowed his mind to wander. Picking a can of Super Gel, he drank as he thought.

Telnure is now getting healing from Eve, who had grudgingly agreed to do it with her Doppelganger. Blade, as he had stated, is watching Telnure throughout the entire process, ready to bonk the guy and send him packing to Simeon if he showed any hostile intent. Disc also ran a scan on Telnure, making sure there were no transmitters sending the base's location.

As for Cruz, he and Gido had retreated to the hub, as Yamada seemed to have some information from his recon. Wonder what they are talking about. Helios, as expected, disappeared and no one could find her. Still don't understand why she is a merc.

As for Setsuna…Aldous paused his thoughts. "Come to think of it, where is Setsuna?"

* * *

><p>At the same time, Setsuna was in a deep sleep at her favourite spot, a little secluded pile of rubble in the base. Not exactly the best of places to sleep but still it's her favourite. In her hand was a rolled-up piece of paper, which she held as if her life depended on it.<p>

In her mind, she was having a nightmare.

"I really look forward to ripping apart, Setsuna-oneechan." Setsuna shivered as she found herself surrounded by darkness. That voice. She knows that voice. But the darkness shrouded everything from view. Then in the darkness came out a single light. Setsuna, seeing it, quickly ran to it, hoping to escape the monsters of the darkness. As she drew near, the light grew larger, until Setsuna recognized it as herself and two familiar figures. She instantly recognized the scene. It was when they were young, when she, Kuchinashi and Mio went out to a nearby flowerbed. A nostalgic feeling washed over Setsuna as she watched herself and her sisters play about, having fun together. She want that scenario to happen again. Trying to sate this desire, Setsuna attempted to run to the playing sisters but then a familiar smell came to her nose. "Kuchinashi….."

Sure enough, Setsuna found her legs immobilized and her hands shivering uncontrollably as her second oldest sister, in her full-grown self, appeared from behind. "Maiden restriction…." Said her sister's drawing pad. And it continued on. "You are not going anywhere, onee-chan."

"No….." Setsuna tried to reason with Kuchinashi. "This is not you….This is not you!"

"Not us?" Setsuna gasped as Mio came out of nowhere, giving Setsuna a huge Power punch in the gut and sending her flying through the air, back into the darkness. Setsuna tried to get up, but for the second time in her life, her legs refused to budge, spasming uncontrollably. "Oneeeeee-channnnnn!" Setsuna gasped as clones of her two sisters, all with the same terrible sadistic gaze, began swarming at her, like a zombie horde. "Get AWAY!" Setsuna attempted to fight back but to no avail. As the relentless waves of Mios and Kuchinashis came down on her, she screamed even more.

"GETTTT AWAYYYYY!"

"WAKE UP!"

All of a sudden, Setsuna found herself being shaken by Aldous who had found her. "Are…you…..OK?" Aldous hesitantly asked. In response, Setsuna began to cry on Aldous' shoulder. "There there now….Cry it out…..cry it out…"

* * *

><p>Arclight whistled at the carnage that his potential recruit has caused to the landscape. A sandy desert it was, but one can easily see the huge craters and splintering earth around them. All a part of Uten's power. Leaving the car and his chauffeur behind him, Arclight spotted his destination.<p>

Arclight walked up to the recruit's home, a small shack which has definitely seen better days. As he was about to knock on the door, the earthquakes began.

The desert shuddered as the earth trembled and Arclight watched as explosions happened everywhere. He grinned. This is a fine Needless candidate. In time, the quakes stopped, with one or two aftershocks and Arclight looked as the landscape had been literally scrambled, as if havoc had gone through it. "Come to think of it. Havoc is indeed the name of my candidate." He joked to himself, a rare action.

Making sure that the place is secure, Arclight proceeded to knock on the door. And the response was quick.

Arclight swiftly jumped back as the shack exploded. As the sand and smoke cleared, a red-haired girl stepped out of the debris and glared at Arclight. "So Simeon decided to recruit me?" She roared as the earth began to shake again. "Then here is my rejection letter." She waved her hand and a shockwave of stone and rock came blazing down at Arclight.

"Heh." Arclight grinned. Time for a warm-up. A warm-up suitable for a God.

"POWER." Arclight proclaimed as he punched through the wave. Then Havoc came running through the created smoke, taking this chance to attack. Arclight watched as she rammed right into him. Or rather she had covered herself within an invisible sphere and used it to charge him. Flying a bit back but unharmed, Arclight stretched out his hand and Havoc gasped as she was raised in the air. "I have decided. You are definitely coming with me!" Arclight laughed.

"Don't think your Psychokinesis can save you." Arclight watched as spheres formed in the air around him and began to contract into tiny beads. "Airless: Explosion!" Arclight was swarmed by a torrent of micro-explosions from the beads. At the same time, Havoc felt the Psychokinesis stop and dropped to the ground. "I think you should find someone else, Simeon. Not even Zero….."

"Oh really?" Havoc turned, just in time to be served a punch in the face from a speeding Arclight. Havoc struggled up. "Speed….Should have expected…" Havoc got into a fighting stance. "You really want to continue fighting God, little girl?"

"Ha, I'll die first than acknowledge a 'God' like you!"

"Please reconsider." Arclight grinned as the crystal on his forehead glowed. "Memorized….."

Havoc suddenly felt the ground began to quake. "No way! You….already…." havoc could only watch as the desert began to tremble even more and more. Then, just when it couldn't get any worse, Arclight placed his hand on the shaking ground. As if he had become the King of the Earth, an entire mountain rose to the skies in acknowledgement of his power. It was a mile away from them, but they could see its speeding climb up the air. It was a true awe-and-terror-inspiring sight as the mountain grew more and more. Havoc, shocked by this sight, felt her knees buckle and she kneeled, wide-eyed at this display.

Eventually it stopped but Havoc had been clearly broken. "I…..I…" Havoc mumbled in her shocked state. Arclight grabbed her by the neck. "You have seen how strong I can be. I can change the entire landscape in the whim, thanks to you. In terms of power you are no use to me, but I can surely make use of a left-hand women. Swore your allegiance to me and you will have a chance to stand by me as God's hand. Or refuse and be sent to the depths of hell. What do you say?"

Havoc, with no other choice and her will now completely overwhelmed, could only nod. Taking this as a yes, Arclight brought the shivering girl to the car. With an obedience of a slave, She entered it and Arclight watched as the mountain began to crack and fold. Soon, it broke apart and the whole mountain came crashing down. As an immense wave of smoke from the crash came rumbling at them, Arclight grinned manically, before breaking out in mindless laughter as the smoke harmlessly swallowed them.

Soon the world will be his and the universe will follow.

**So Arclight has managed to scare Havoc into submission. So now Aldous and friends have a new Uten to fight and Arclight has gained a shocking new power. What is Havoc's fragment? Please guess and review.**


	12. Chapter 12

As Aldous put Setsuna to bed, he and Yamada watched as she slowly but hesitantly went to sleep again. "So, you are like her, Yamada?" Aldous asked the much shorter green-haired boy. Yamada nodded in acknowledgement, quiet and brooding over the thought of his sister. Leaving the two behind, Aldous went for the central hub. The night sky remained hidden behind the giant dome of the base but small parts of it can be seen through small cracks and holes.

Aldous, taking his time, noticed the hussle and bustle of the night Resistance. Well some of the shops had already closed for the day, others remained open at night, their owners shouting out discounts and good bargains. Every so often, Aldous bumped into a drunk returning home from the local bars and more than occasionally did he disrupt a brawl along his way. Half-way there, he noticed Eve and Adam's resting place, a run-down looking church that had been their home for years. Yamada occasionally sleeps there too but his frequent recon missions had him sleeping outside more times than in there.

Aldous, deciding to pick up speed, began to freeze the ground. A new technique he had created, Aldous froze the trail in front of him and began ice-skating. Once or twice, he would slip and more than thrice did he bump into an unlucky soul who slipped on the ice himself. But the ice did their work. From Setsuna's home to the hub, a good 10 minutes' walk was need but the ice saved him 2 minutes. Not a lot but he was getting better at this new mode of locomotion.

"You called for me, Gido?" Aldous approached the old scientist, ever so diligent on his array of computers. "Yes, Aldous. It's time that I have a word with you on a topic that I was supposed to tell you earlier."

"And why you didn't tell me?"

"Sorry It had slipped my mind. Your progress is quite astonishing. You displayed an analytical ability on par with Yamada's."

"So?" Aldous questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"You shouldn't be having that ability in the first place…."

"Huh?"

"Let me ask you this. In your first battle, you felt that you were out of control, didn't you?"

Aldous, his mind returning to that day, felt a shiver went down his spine. He had unintentionally killed that Needless and he very well remembered the madness within, the anger and finally the chilling fear that followed your realization. "I remember it."

"It's your battle persona. A fragment doesn't just give you power, you know. There is a price. And that price is the persona. We call it needless madness."

"Needless Madness?"

"In all my adventures with Blade and company, I had noticed a distinct change in a Needless when he fights. A change so profound and powerful that even little girls like Setsuna have no problem with killing."

"Isn't that because the world we live today is a survival for the fittest?"

"That was what I thought at first. But the pattern was too hard to ignore. Every Needless we met has a madness within him and I'm sure you remember the drastic personality difference in Telnure in and out of battle. That is the madness in action."

"So you think it is some sort of disease?"

"No, it's not. The Madness makes you crazy but insanely good at fighting and brawling. That is how the Needless managed to manifest such potent combat abilities. However, there are times when the madness…..can…..get to you."

"What?"

"We had a companion. A Magnetic World Needless. Her name was Solva. Now on the outside she looked like a normal cute maid-girl but in battle her persona changes so drastic that she becomes somewhat obsessed with power and domination. At first, we had assumed it was her true personality. We realized soon after that we were wrong but we were too late. Finally we had to put her down when the madness had completely overwhelmed her. Sure her power soared to that of a Seraph-level but all her reasoning was lost. If you want to see her, she is in a cryo canister, in a coma. I'm still trying to find a way to bring her back." Gido sighed.

"That is the true threat of the madness. Total mind domination. And all loss of reasoning. That is why in battle it is not unusual for a Needless to overlook things that a normal human could." Then Gido stared at Aldous, who was attentively listening to all this. And he pointed at Aldous.

"But you…..Aldous, you are different."

Aldous, taken aback by these words, quickly snapped at Gido. "What are you saying?"

Gido, showing his hands in peace, replied, "Relax. I'm not accusing you of anything. Let me tell you how you are different."

"You have a Needless madness. That is obvious but have you noticed not only could you have the combat benefits of the madness but also retain the analytical ability. Aruka, Yamada's sister, is also capable of doing that. But there is more. You are…..afraid." Gido and Aldous went silent for a while for dramatic effect. A while passed.

"A…fraid?"

"Yes….." Gido sighed. "You are the first darn Needless I have seen who is actually afraid of the Madness. At the same time, you are the only Needless who was aware of the madness. While others would keep on thinking that they are their right minds, YOU can sense that you are not. That is the most important thing that you possess. You can sense things in your mind."

"Huh?"

Gido face-palmed himself. "I guess I over-simplified it. You are a person who is capable of organizing his mind into sections and pieces to the point that you can search through it and rummage through it. You can isolate flaws within your thinking and detect persistent instincts. Normally, no ordinary person could do that. An ordinary person would simply follow his mind, creating habits, using instincts, have addictions, et cetera et cetera. But you won't. In short, you have a dual-mind."

"Dual-mind?"

"Some call it bi-polar, others call it dual personality, I call it dual-mind. You have two minds in you at the same time. The mind you are most familiar with is the normal mind, a mind that creates habits, patterns of thinking and subconsciously changes your actions. But the second mind, the mind you are most active, shuffles through the normal mind and gives you the pen itself to rewrite what the normal mind think. Got it?"

"And this affects me how?"

"It is the very reason you can use Dai-Yon-Ha-Do." Silence again.

"You serious?"

"Because you have two minds, unlocking your brain-potential becomes so much easier. Hence High-level fragments like Dai-Yon-Ha-Do become available to use. But I must warn you. I did say some people call it dual personality. I have an idea why you won't aware that you used Dai-Yon-Ha-Do before."

"Tell me." Aldous suddenly, getting what Gido was saying, pressured him for more info.

"I….."

"I'm not BLIND ANYMORE!" All of a sudden, Telnure barged into the hub, his eyes healed completely and Eve and Blade on hot pursuit. The man was obviously overjoyed of his regained sight and in his drunken happiness, smashed into both Aldous and Gido, interrupting the conversation. By the time the situation was under control, Gido had to get back to his computers, leaving Aldous little chance to get the answer from him.

As Aldous laid in the medical bed, sipping a fine can of Super Gel, he wondered what to do. "What should I do…Dad….?"

Somewhere in his dual-minds, as he became aware of this dual-writing process that he had not noticed before, a single entity roamed about.

"_LET THE PARTY GET STARTED…" _

**Yikes! Aldous has a dual-personality and now a bit more of his past is revealed. Please review.**

**Author's Note: I have decided to separate the whole story into a few 'books'.**


	13. Chapter 13

"You sure that the data is here, Helios?"

"Sure I'm sure, Seto? Since when have I not been wrong in my detection ability?" The yellow-haired girl, a giant Reaper sword strapped to the back of her simple one-piece black dress, was searching through a building that she had brought down herself. As she searched, pieces of debris floated around aimlessly, coutersy of the unique abilities of her fragment, Graviton.

She had been on a long mission from the Resistance to look for the data about the Simeon engineer known as Kusaki. Personally, she wondered what all the hillaboo was about the dude. When she met him, he was nothing more than a wuss. A dwarf-looking dude, stout, oily and a coward who dies behind the Simeon Needless. However, he is after all the person who had found out the key to detecting Needless, with that annoying radar of his. Not even Eve, with her fancy disguises, could infiltrate properly.

"Get your mind off that. Focus on the data." Seto reminded herself as she continued lifting stones and concrete out of her way in her search for the data. If she remembered right, the data is in a form of a disk. "Urgh, I'm bored…." She ranted as she began to lose hope of finding it. "I want to go out there and find some money….." She is still as money-sick as ever. She glanced at Helios, sitting at one side, pruning her nails as she watched Seto do all the work. "Isn't she too young to do things like pruning?" Seto puffed up her cheeks like a chipmunk.

The resistance had hired Helios to help in her search for the disk. Sadly, the mercenary doesn't seem to be contributing much. "Hey, Helios!" Seto got her attention from her nails. "You gonna help me or what? Can't you be a bit more specific on where the data is?"

Helios laughed as if whatever Seto was spouting nonsence at her. "Well, that would be no fun at all! I love to see how people become so desperate and impatient. Besides, would you rather take a few hours to find this data or risk a possible spatial anomaly that could catastrophically ruin the world thanks to your…..request?" Helios smiled very innocently and Seto gulped. This is the first time she met the mercenary girl and she just gives her the creeps.

"….Fine…" Seto continued on. This is going to be a long day.

* * *

><p>"Aldous, Setsuna, you two have to scout out a potential Simeon outpost just out of the Black Spot. We believe this is their air base and the source of resources coming from the international Simeon HQs. If we are right, then we have an advantage on heavily disrupting Simeon operation efficiency. Now I emphasize on scouting. No lollygagging. No heroics. Just stealth and discretion. Make sure you aren't caught. Eve, you will use your bird disguise to provide aerial support. Just make sure you are out of range of their scanners." Eve nodded in acknowledgement.<p>

"And Aldous, I have another sub-task for you. While you are there, I want you to test out radiation levels with your heat-absorption. We have got wind of a new weapon and we need the readings to comfirm it. Got it?" Aldous, hesitant for a bit, then acknowledged with a "Yes."

"As for you Setsuna. Be exceptionally careful. We have detected no cranes or carrying machinery in the outpost. So likely the thing carrying all the cargo and resources coming in….."

"Mio….." Setsuna muttered under her breath. Gido nodded, clearly worried about this circumstance. "If you want we can pull you…"

"No, Dr. Gido. I'm clear what to do. Avoid all confrontations and maintain discretion. I will stay clear of her if I spot her." Aldous, glancing at Setsuna, noticed the faint tear forming under her eyes. "She's trying her best…." He reminded himself and he curbed the poking feeling of pity for her.

"Helios is out now. So you guys will be taking transport….."

All of a sudden a rumbling sound is heard and out of nowhere popped out Disc. Or at least Disc' head. Which is attached to a testament. Aldous gawked. Setsuna grinned. Eve shook her hand. Disc just laughed as if she was having the time of life. "The benefits of being a robot." She smiled.

"Good luck!" Setsuna stated to Aldous. "Wait, aren't you also…..?" Then he looked at Setsuna again.

"YOU CAN'T SERIOUSLY BE GOING TO RUN THE WHOLE WAY?"

* * *

><p>"Welcome to your new home, your paradise, your sanctuary, Havoc….Or should I say Uten…" Arclight smirked as he brought the girl into a bedroom, now dressed in a school uniform. "Yes…Arclight-sama…" The girl shivered at the touch of his skin. It was cold, like as if she wasn't touching a living person. Havoc sat there on the bed as Arclight left her in there. She extended her hand but the whole room, nor the building moved. "Ah ah ah….." A voice resounded from hidden loudspeakers throughout the room. "I made sure that the whole building is immune to your fragment. So now shall we begin the testing?"<p>

"What testing…?" Havoc shivered at the word. This is not good.

"Oh it's nothing serious. I just need to test how strong you are." Then a click of a button heard. And what happened next make Havoc scream as if there was no tomorrow. And beside the scream, was the maniacal laughter and triumphant cheering of a mad engineer named Kusaki.

When Havoc got out, she immediately fell into the open arms of the sneering Arclight. "Atta girl, atta girl, the left-hand of God."

**This sections showed more about Simeon's Gido-counterpart known as Kusaki. He's mad, that's for sure. I wanted to write what happened to Havoc in there but I guess It's better for you to guess. Please Review.**

**To Welnakia: Thanks you two for reviewing! **


	14. Chapter 14

"Uhh…" Aldous and Eve groaned as Disc, in her Testament, came to halt. "I'm still seeing stars….." Aldous moaned as Eve nodded in agreement. Disc had driven them on her Testament and the trip had been bumpy as hell. More than thrice did Eve and Aldous fell off from her back, getting headaches and bruises. "Next time, Disc…..I'll drive….." Eve warned Disc's beaming head wearily , her mind still a muddled mess.

"Where have you guys been?"Setsuna suddenly appear from behind a boulder. Unlike Aldous and Eve whose normal running speed remained a mediocre 15 miles per hour, Setsuna's Speed Fragment allowed her to sprint at a max speed of Mach 10, a speed not even Disc's Testament could match. "Trying to survive….." Aldous massaged his sore body as he drank a can of Super Gel before passing the half-full can to Eve for calorie nourishment.

Disc, activating her Scan fragment, scanned the area for nearby hostiles. In the distance, a good 500 metres away was the Air Base. Just as they spotted it, a plane promptly took off, luckily opposite of their direction. "Cargo planes…," Disc muttered.

As Aldous and Setsuna put on their communication gear, small ear-pieces, and Eve turned into an albatross through her Doppelganger ability, Disc activated some sort of cloak, that promptly turned the Testament invisible. "Wait a minute….." Aldous glared at where Disk once was. "Why don't we get that sort of thing?"

"Because I'm a half robot and you are not….." Disc joked.

"Can you hear me?" A voice crackled through the earpieces as Eve took off for area surveillance. It was Gido's. "I'm contacting you directly from base. Helios has returned with Seto and the mercenary has given some interesting information. At a price of course."

"Seto?" Aldous thought. Another Needless he hasn't met yet. Note to meet her once he comes back. Gido's voice came back. "Setsuna, please return to base….."

"Huh? Why?" Setsuna suddenly spoke out.

"One, the sensors on the air base have been upgraded. And we estimate that despite your natural low fragment energy level, you will still be detected by the new sensors. Two, we have comfirmed Mio is indeed in there."

"So you are pulling me back because you think I won't fight my sister? I have known Mio the longest and thus I know how to beat her. Besides Aldous needs help in this…."

"ENOUGH, Setsuna! Remember, this Mio does not have the same mind as the Mio you know. Her style is much more different so your experience with her won't help you." Setsuna gritted her teeth at this. "Besides, like we said before...The sensors will detect you, but Aldous has shown to us that he has 0 fragment energy within him."

"0 fragment energy…..?" Setsuna turned to look at Aldous, who returned the same confused gaze she had. As Setsuna noticed this, she calmed herself and shivered as she thought to herself. "Under….stood….."

"So Aldous is going alone?" Eve suddenly interjected. "You sure about that, Gido?"

"Positive, Eve. Aldous is the only Needless here who can pass through those sensors undetected besides you Eve and we need you for aerial surveillance. This is final." There was a great emphasis on the last word. Aldous, silent for the entire time, began to feel nervous. He had been betting on Setsuna's help but now it seems he has to go in unassisted. "I got this…" He replied to assure everyone and he turned to Setsuna. "Go back, please Setsuna….."

Setsuna, nodding in acknowledgement, hung her head low as she began to run back to base. Once all that was cleared up, Disc described the plan. "Aldous, you will use my Testament body as a Trojan horse disguise to get into the base. Once in, you will have to remember to record radiation levels for Gido and at the same time, search for records of shipments and avoid all confrontation. If you do get caught, tap your earpiece twice to activate a signal. Eve and I will charge in to pull you out."

Aldous, unsure about this, could only silently nod as he got into a small compartment to smuggle him in. "Alright, I'm heading…." Disc announced, her head now hidden inside the Testament. And the whirring of the Testament's motors began. It felt like eternity, waiting in that small compartment. To pass the time, Aldous began to count 1000s.

By the time he reached the 42th 1000, a metallic whir could be heard and Aldous heard people speaking around them. "There is a Testament. Seems to be an old model." "Is it defunct?" "No still seems to have operational housing codes. Our records show that the Testament had been deployed for patrol about a month ago. 6 kilometres away from here." "Whew…..that's a long way." "Should we check it?" "Nah, we shouldn't harass the chiefs with such trivial stuff. Besides the energizers take priority."

"Energizers?" Aldous noted this as he felt a door open and he was pushed out as Disc dispensed behind some barrels, out of sight from the engineers. "What was that?' One of them seemed to heard him. "Ah…it's nothing. C'mon we got to receive the next plane shipment. Seems like our Testament is going out for another patrol." Aldous watched as Disc began to exit the base. "Now how am I supposed to get out?" No alarms, no yelling, just the occasional "boom" from a cargo bow being placed down. The base was a normal huge air base, though it was choke full of cargo boxes and had trucks on standby to move the cargo out of the base to Simeon. Aldous, zipping from one box to the next, began to take the hang of this stealth thing. Then the radiation became to come in.

It was subtle at first but it grew more as Aldous' heat absorption went on overdrive. In an effort to maintain energy capacity, his body began to slowly tune itself to the radiation and before long, Aldous felt at ease again. "There is definitely something going on here he thought…." Then another 'boom' as a box was moved around again.

And moving it was a little girl. A girl with a fetish for pink.

With pink short hair with a yellow bow and a matching pink children's dress, Mio didn't seem menacing at first. She even had a very cute childish look, wielding a weird-looking teddy-bear with sharp teeth in one arm and a very obvious blush on her cheeks. Of course, excluding the fact that she seemed to be lifting a huge cargo box with the other hand. "Damn…..That's Power." Aldous thought. Setsuna definitely wasn't lying about how innocuous she looked.

As Aldous stealthily weaved his way through the maze of boxes, Eve began to give him input. "Cargo plane incoming. Stay out of sight." "Thanks, Eve." Aldous whispered back as he took cover under some stacked wooden crates.

The ground rumbled as Aldous heard the roaring screech of wheels touching ground and the rumbling decrease over time until the plane came to a complete halt. As Aldous heard the "bo bo bo" of footsteps around him, he made sure he didn't make a sound, even holding his breath every so often. He could swear at that moment his heart could have stopped to make sure he was silent. "Calm down, Aldous." He reminded himself as he began to slip out from his hiding place. "Now where to find these records?"

"Hey , I've just inputted our new shipments on to the comp." Aldous heard some workers began to talk. "The high-ups have assigned us a new password. '42' Don't know why they gave that sort of password." "Maybe because they believe they could find THE answer…..Oh well, I'm changing it now...Done."

"Hey we need some help over here!" Aldous then watched as the engineers went off to assist and making sure no one could see him, slipped to the computer. Whipping out a thumbdrive, Aldous searched on the computer for the records. "Found it." Aldous softly cheered as he opened up a screen of the recorded shipments and imported resources. Saving the data on the drive, Aldous was about to call in Disc again until a huge cargo box landed right in front of his face.

"You really think Mio-chan is that stupid? 3"

**Looks Aldous has the data he needs, but it is time for Mio to take the stage. Sorry for having to send back Setsuna but wouldn't want to have her fighting her sister. Pleasse review.**


	15. Chapter 15

Aldous turned as he backed away from the thrown cargo box, the huge metal type that usually be found in ports. And right in front of him was the culprit, the cute little girl named Mio, an unnerving smile on her face. "Mio-chan never expected visitors so I guess I will have to throw you out." Aldous slowly reached for his ear-piece, about to give out the warning. But he wasn't fast enough.

"Power." Aldous saw the girl did a straight punch at his chest but it felt more like a train smashed into him. Flying and smashing through several boxes, Aldous landed in a crumpled heap, his ribcage feeling like it had been broken. His hand was spasming and he could barely get up. Mio, that sadistic smile on her face, began walking to him, taking her time. She was at least five metres away.

"Freeze….." Aldous moaned as he absorbed heat from the ground. A layer of ice began to spread and even some caught Mio's legs. But the girl's enormous strength allowed to walk through the ice, breaking every wave of ice trying to stop her slow steady stride. Soon she was right above Aldous, who continued to struggle as his body still recovered from the impact.

"Time for you to die."

Boom! Mio punched the floor where Aldous had been a moment earlier. And she looked up as Aldous floated in the air, his hands on fire. "Using the energy to propel yourself about. Smart." Aldous cringed as his hands shivered. He had just come up with this technique a moment ago and he is not used to it yet. "But that won't save you. Air Bullet." Aldous gawked as Mio punched the air and then he felt an impact on his left arm. She was literally punching the air towards him using her strength.

His balance lost, Aldous spiraled out of control and he landed into a wall a short distance away from Mio. "She's too…strong….." He groaned as he fell from the wall and landed on the ground. His vision blurring, he saw as the girl approached closer and closer. It seemed like an eternity as her slow deliberate steps took their time. "How….do I...beat her?" Aldous then went to sleep and somewhere in his minds, a voice could be heard.

"YOU CAN'T. BUT I CAN."

"Well I guess it's time to finish you off for good." Mio smirked as she threw her teddy bear up in the air. Now this was no ordinary teddy bear. It was a bear that only she could carry. A bear that weighed a ton. Falling straight down like a giant bkock of steel, the bear sought to bring crushing defeat to Aldous. Then it stopped short, just inches from his head. Mio, surprised, looked as Aldous' hand was holding up the bear, preventing it from crushing him.

Except this time, the hand was firing energy backwards, propelling the hand forward to allow it to hold up the heavyweight bear. "I see….But you won't last long…." "You may want to reconsider that statement….." Mio gasped as the bear fell to the ground and Aldous appearing right behind her. "How…..?"

"Let's just say I can propel myself very fast…" Aldous smirked. Or is it Aldous? Propelling his fist, Aldous gave a straight into Mio's face before another jet-propelled roundhouse kick at her legs. Then as she fell, he pressed his foot against her body. "Dai-Yon-Ha-DO…" His eyes opened wide with madness, Aldous promptly shot a beam of heat energy at Mio through his foot. Mio was pushed back into a wall but then she ripped the wall off and threw it at Aldous, who met it with a crazy grin.

The workers who had been watching from the sidelines the whole time, gasped as Aldous stopped the thrown wall with his palm and then his palm glowed as he activated Dai-Yon-Ha-Do Agni. The wall melted into molten metal, which was quickly thrown back at Mio. Bringing up her teddy bear like a war hammer, Mio swatted away the burning hot projectiles. The metal got onto some of the wooden crates and they began to burst into flames. Seeing this, the workers screamed as they quickly began to try to quell the flames in the midst of the fight.

Mio, rocketing herself forward with a spring jump, collided her fist with Aldous'. But despite her Power, the propelling flames allowed his fist to match hers. Shocked by this sudden leveling of the playing field, Mio could barely react as the flames intensified and Aldous' punch soon overpowered hers and for the first time for months she was pushed back. Rolling through the ground, Mio's flying body still exuded its awesome strength as a crater was created where she landed.

Mio, trying to get up, had her head groveled into the ground by Aldous' foot. Despite her best efforts, his flames surpassed her strength and she was given a short effective strike on the back of her neck, knocking her out. Aldous, his eyes still wide and crazy and his wolfish grin unsettling, laughed as the air base began to freeze bit by bit. The workers, trying to escape, froze into ice statues and fell down, breaking into pieces. Mio was luckier. She remained unfrozen as Aldous released the pressure on her head and then thrown to a spot that was left alone. "Oh, Aldous would be so sad if he sees that he has killed Stesuna's sister." The person known as Aldous giggled as he raised his fist at the parked plane. "The pilots, still inside, were all frozen solid. "Begone."

The plane was incinerated by a huge beam of heat, one that Aldous himself had never achieved before. "A pity that I had to handicap him….It would be so much fun to see how he uses my power. Satan's power." The person posing as Aldous, who we now known as Satan, laughed as grabbed the thumbdrive and reabsorbed the radiation levels again.

Satan then felt his body began to shake. "Ah…he's waking up….I guess I better call his friends…"Double-tapping the earpiece, Satan smirked as he receded back into the deep recesses of the mind and Aldous fell forward, once again unconscious.

A few seconds later, Disc and Eve crashed through the airbase wall, only to find Aldous and Mio unconscious and a stunning scene of carnage.

**So I have now shown Aldous' alternate side, known as Satan. Note he is Satan, not Saten. Satan is the devil etc while Saten is the right hand of god. In case you are unsure, when Aldous was nearly beaten by Mio, Satan took over. Please review!**


	16. Chapter 16

"Back on the medical bad again….." Aldous moaned as he tried to get up but his chest still hurt. "What happened…..?" Aldous looked around but there was no one around. Last thing he remembered was Mio right about to kill him with her teddy bear. Shaking his aching head, Aldous quickly looked around for a clue of what happened. His shirt was ripped open and under it his chest had bandages for his injuries, his hands still remain numb as if they had been hitting against a wall of steel for a long time.

Suddenly, Aldous spotted a familiar can drink on the table beside the bed. "Ah…..Super Gel Doro Doro….." Aldous smacked his lips as he indulged in the 5000 kilocalories drink. By the time he was done, his body felt like it was reenergized and though it still hurts, he could control his body better now.

"Caught you red-handed!" Aldous jumped as the table morphed into none other than the Doppelganger herself, Eve. "I knew you were going to drink up my can!" She snapped at him.

"Your can? You left it lying about on top of you!" Aldous retorted as Eve pounced on him, roaring at him to buy her another can. Soon, Setsuna came in, attracted by the noise of the struggle. "Oh you're awake." Setsuna dodged as Eve was sent flying by a Aldous Punch. "Obviously….." Aldous growled as he held his side and laid back onto the bed, cringing at the pain.

"Calm down…" Setsuna assisted Aldous onto the bed. "You are still quite hurt from Mio's assault. By the way you did a good job. You got the records and the radiation level readings." Aldous smiled as Setsuna said it. First time going stealth and not only did he survived, he actually succeeded. Aldous breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know how he survived Mio but at least he did it. "And plus the fact that you utterly destroyed the airbase. Now Simeon have their resources cut off. Talk about killing 3 birds with 1 stone."

Then Aldous lost that smile. "I destroyed the base?..." Setsuna and Eve hearing that, raised their eyebrow. "Yes you did. Eve said that she saw a massive beam coming out of the base and completely destroyed the air base. When she and Disc got you out, the airbase nearly collapsed on top of that. Furthermore, we found that you managed to knock out Mio and hence we captured her."

"Knock out Mio? I never did that. She was about to kill me! In fact, I shouldn't be alive!" Aldous suddenly gave an outburst once he heard this. Racking his brains, he wondered what had happened as Setsuna and Eve looked at each other with a worried look. "I think it's best you tell Gido that once you are ready…..It's no use to waste time thinking about it now…" Eve assured Aldous as she headed for the door. "I got to go. Yamada still isn't back with my Super Gel." "Wait a minute. Didn't I drank…..?" "I lied…..Just wanted to see the look on your face…." Eve giggled as she exited the room.

"LOL…" Aldous sighed as Setsuna giggled to at Eve's joke. Then she grabbed Aldous' hand. "Thanks."

"What for?"

"Even if you said that you didn't do it, I'm grateful for helping me subdue Mio. Now I can find out what has Simeon done to her."

"Erm…I…." Aldous didn't know what to say. "I…I'm glad…" That's the best he could come up with.

"You have been a friend to me. That means something. Thanks. You ever need something, just ask okay?" Setsuna winked at Aldous. "Get some sleep, Aldous. You deserve it. I need to go." "Alright." Aldous nodded at Setsuna and he laid his head on the familiarly rough pillow. Setsuna, smiling, exited the room.

"You starting to like him?" Setsuna gasped as she saw Blade just around the corner. "Never imagined you take to a guy like him?"

"Ha? You….got it….wrong? I'm just….grateful….." Setsuna hurriedly denied it.

"That's what they all say. I can even see the blush on your face." Blade grinned as he teased the girl. "I had expected the one to help guide Aldous would be Eve but it looks you took her place. But….." Blade lost his smile. Setsuna, realizing what it is, also had a grim look on her face.

"It looks our old friend is telling the truth."

"Test results!" Kusaki roared as his fellow scientists worked about in the Simeon lab, whose funding has led it to be highly advanced and well-equipped. "Test subjects has shown 67 % synchronization but ultimate result is rejection." Kusaki punched the wall in frustration. The synchronization has been getting better and better but in the end the subjects get rejected. Kusaki watched as a worker rolled away the burned remains of one of their tests. A sadistic smile form on his face. Expermiments always leave him with that thrill.

"Re-look at fragment energy levels. Find me more volunteers. Recalibrate the invasion energy. Arclight has given us time in grace so we will not fail him."

"Yes sir!"

Kusaki sighed as he walked into another room. However, this room was solely focused on one thing. A giant canister in the center was filled with green preserving liquid. Kusaki and researchers surveyed it behind glass windows. And for good reason. All around the canister ice was forming everywhere and every so often, flamethrowers were used to burn them off. Sometimes, even the flames spiraled around the canister and then were sucked into the single person in it.

An extremely muscular man, dressed in green pants and had a green cape around him. They were tattered as if they had been through a war or two. His arms wore huge giant cuffs with intricate etches in it. Under the cuffs were bandages and even his own face has a bandage covering the portion just below and above his eyes. Kusaki looked at the readings. Heart rate. Breath rate. Blood pressure. Brain levels. The man is in a coma but most definitely alive.

"I have no idea how you did it, Saten. But soon I will."

**OMG! Saten is alive but it seems like he has done something in the past that has gotten Simeon's attention. Please review.**


	17. Chapter 17

**It's time for Mio to wake up.**

Yamada nodded at Setsuna as she entered the room. Disc was there too, in her normal body. Setsuna looked with sad eyes at what was supposed to be her sister.

In the center of the room, Mio stood there, glaring at them with murderous eyes. Her hair was a mess and her dress in tatters, representative of her mad state. Her hands were bound by two electromagnetic cuffs that surpass her strength and her legs were weighed down by a ton of concrete each.

Roaring at them, Mio continued to struggle but to no avail. However, her struggle caused the whole place to tremor, a signature of her Power. "Do it." Disc ordered as a Resistance member pressed a button. Setsuna and Yamada watched as Mio, continuing to scream, was sprayed with a cold gas and a syringe injected something into her.

As the smoke cleared, Setsuna could only weep as Mio stopped moving and only stood there, cryogenically frozen. Her eyes were now shut in sleep. Setsuna now could finally look at the familiar face of her sister, peaceful and calm. "It's safe now." Disc nodded to Setsuna and the blue-haired speedster walked into the room, wearing a protective suit to prevent herself from getting frozen.

"I'm so sorry Mio, but soon I will get you out of Simeon's control." Setsuna apologized to her sister as she began to examine the frozen body. Poking around at her, Setsuna then spotted something just under Mio's yellow bow. "What's this?" Setsuna analyzed the small chip embedded into Mio's head.

"Disc!"

"I'm on it!" Disc acknowledged as she activated Scan. "It's a control chip that interrupts the brain signals with signals on its own. That's probably what is controlling your sister."

"So I'll just pull it out?"

"No, wait!" Yamada interrupted. "You could hurt Mio if you just suddenly pull out that chip. Disc, do you know any way to get it out?"

"According to my records, it seems at cold enough temperatures, the chip will lose its functionality and it would be safe to remove. But our cold gas seems to have no effect on it."

"How about me?" Setsuna, Yamada and Disc gasped as Aldous appeared. "Aldous, weren't you sleeping?"

"You think I will just let you do all the work at helping your sister. Jeez, Setsuna, you need to ask for my help a bit more." Aldous grinned as he entered the room, his Fragment allowing him to resist the cold temperatures. Setsuna then backed away as Aldous walked up to Mio. "I don't know what I did to you, Mio but I know that I should help." Aldous spoke to the frozen girl as he slowly placed his finger on the chip.

Then the process began. Aldous felt the energy rush into his hand as he absorbed the heat from the chip. Slowly but surely, ice began to form around the chip. Aldous could feel an electric stun once in a while as he continued to maintain the flow.

"Okay, it's done, Aldous. Pull it out." Disc called to him. With a swift movement, Aldous tore off the chip and he threw to one side. "It's done."

**10 minutes later,**

"Uhh….." Mio groaned as she woke up. "Onee-san?..." She looked at a blurry figure in her line of sight. Then as it began to focus, she was looking at the curious face of Aldous. "AHHHHH!"

Aldous was then sent flying through the room as Mio gave him a punch in the face. "Why is it every time I meet one of the sisters, I'm sent flying?" Aldous groaned as he was shocked by the punch.

"Mio!" "Onee-san" Setsuna ran up to her sister in happiness and the two hugged. Well at least, Mio was the one hugging Setsuna. "Mio…you are crushing me…" Setsuna gasped for air as Mio released from her overly powerful bear hug.

"Onee-san? Have we been captured?" Mio asked, her memory seeming to have been lost.

"No, no, Mio…We are at the Resistance…C'mon….let's find someplace to talk."

"You okay?" Yamada glanced at Aldous as he struggled up. "I never got to introduce myself properly. I'm Cruz Schild."

"Urhhh…My head still hurts….I'm Aldous, Aldous Dragon…." Aldous groaned as he steadied himself on the wall.

"Thanks for your help, Aldous. I don't really know you but it seems like you have been a great help since you've joined the Resistance."

"You sound a mature guy even if you are so young."

"Ha, ha, that was thanks to Father-san and Eve. I would still be a bubbling idiot and coward if I never met them." Yamada looked as Setsuna continued to explain to Mio what happened.

"I think it's best you go back to rest, Aldous. We still need time to look at the data that you have gotten for us." Yamada helped to bring Aldous to the cryo-room door. "You sure you can walk back to the medical room?"

"I'm fine, Yamada. Don't worry." Aldous assured him as he limped back to the medical room.

**Not my best chapter obviously but I guess this was more hurried than the others. Please review.**


	18. Chapter 18

"So I've been fighting onee-san for so long?" Mio gasped as she and Setsuna sat down at Setsuna's room, which had three beds, blue, yellow and pink. Each meant for the sisters if they come back together. "Yes, but now that you are here, you can help us beat Simeon."

Mio looked down for a while, playing with her teddy bear. "I'm…..sorry about that, Onee-san."

"Eh?"

"I should have been able to control myself. Yet I even beat up my own Onee-san…" Mio began to weep. "Hey, hey, calm down, Mio. It's alright." Setsuna hugged her dear sister, patting her head in assurance. "At least you are back. Now I know how they managed to brainwash you. And when we find Kuchinashi, we can free her too. So don't worry about the past."

"You sure?" Mio asked, her words slurred from her crying. "Sure, I'm sure. Soon we will together , all three of us."

"Ahem…."

"Huh?" Setsuna and Mio looked up as Disc entered the room. "I need to check some bio on Mio first. So could I?"

"Sure." Setsuna as she smiled at Mio, assuring her that it is alright. Disc, activating her scanner, looked through Mio for a few seconds. " Looks you're okay and as Blade asked me to, I have saved your 3 sizes for him." Setsuna fell to the ground. "Damn that Blade…." "Blade-onii-chan is still so cute." Mio joked as Disc exited the room and the ka-ching of a coin-machine could be heard somewhere.

"So you don't know anything at all, Mio?"

"Sorry, onee-san. Mio-chan had been sleeping the whole time I had been under Simeon control. So I don't know much about Simeon's operations or where Kuchinashi is."

"It's alright. I'm sure we can find her. Now get some rest first, Mio." Setsuna put her sister to bed as she cuddled up with her teddy bear. "Sleep tight."

"So they have captured Mio huh?" Arclight mused as a Simeon operative reported the news. "And our air base destroyed? Well I guess this boy is giving us more trouble than we think. But no matter, that was only one of many air bases. Our resources are still in good flow."

"Sir….." The Simeon operative gulped at Arclight's monstrous lower body. It was a display of the form that allowed him to absorb humans, a hulk of brown mass and tree-like branches. For now, he was using it to speed up his regeneration process. "It seems that the boy has also stolen record data. The possibility of compromise of our plan is imminent."

"I know, fool. But no worries. I trust Kusaki will be able to finish the project. And besides, even if they know, the scum will have to personally invade the Simeon building. Which is definitely suicide."

"As you command, sir." The operative bowed before rushing out of the room, scared out of his wits by Arclight's sadistic aura.

"Pfff…idiots….."

"I'm back….finally…..I'm back…" Seto gasped as she got into the central hub, her body sweaty and tired from all the heavy lifting and walking. "Oh, you're back." Helios giggled as she stood beside Gido. "You…you damn Merc…..you left me all the way back there… and I had to freaking walk the whole way!" Seto roared at Helios. "Here, Gido. Your disc." Seto gave the data disc to Gido. "And now I'm going to beat you up!" Seto once again pounced at Helios, who calmly warpped a distance away.

"Calm down, Seto. Helios just came to help me with our newest mission." Gido patted Seto's shoulder, as he rubbed his shiny bald head in frustration. "These radiation levels and the records…..Simeon is definitely up to something…" Gido sighed as he looked at the data that Aldous has retrieved. "There is nothing here in the records that would warrant such high radiation and yet Simeon also seems to be importing a large amount of something called an Energizer. And also a hell lot of lab equipment." Gido turned to Yamada who was at a nearby table looking at a map of the Black Spot.

"Cruz, I need your thinking here a bit. And Seto, you should head back to your quarters. Thanks for your help."

"No prob, old man. But I got a grudge here with brat Space Traveller over here and I need to settle the score."

"You want to fight me Seto? I wouldn't be bothered." Helios nonchalantly muttered as she waved her hand. A wormhole appeared in a wall. "Anyway, a client of mine is waiting. So I've no time to waste with a little gravity girl like you."

"Little? Look at the pot calling the kettle black. You are not even older than me?" "Whatever…" Helios huffed as she slipped into the hole. An angry mark appearing on her forehead, Seto continued to throw a tantrum at the hole, screaming at it. "Next time I see you I'm going to make you taste gravity 1000 times. So don't you dare come back!"

"Hu…hu..hu…" Seto catched her breath as she calmed herself down. Her body was now even more sweaty and all she got was a freaking headache from screaming. "Looks like I'm going to get some rest…." Gido and Yamada sweatdrop as the yellow-haired girl, now weary, dragged her Reaper blade out of the hub.

"Well that was anti-climatic and unnecessary….." Yamada shook his head as he turned back to the data at hand. "Medical equipment, Food supplies, Computers, Humans, Animals, Needless…And this weird Energizer. A Fragment energy booster?" Yamada thought as he continued to look through. "They are trying to make a shortcut to power? Or maybe a way to collect Fragment energy? But why?"

"Cruz, can you make anything out of this?"

"Humans, animals and the Needless are definitely test subjects for some sort of experiment. Computers and equipment are probably meant a laboratory is set up in Simeon base."

"But an energizer? What's that for…"" Cruz wondered on as he continued his analysis.

"A Needless preserver…." Disc said as she entered the room. "An old US technology that preserves a fragment."

"Disc?"

"That's based on what I have in my database. Energizer was a name meant to mislead spies and informants. The technology uses large amount of radiation energy that would keep the fragment active. As you may know, Arclight and Adam get their power from the Byakugou. The crystal on their forehead. That was the first time that we have seen the physical form of a fragment, even if it is artificial."

"Physical form?"

"You see, the Second seems to have all the powers of the fragments today. But what if there are more than we know? What if a Fragment doesn't need to be inside a Needless body? What if the Second had more powers than we know of? Think about it. Physical fragments. Don't need to be with a person. Imagine a Byakugou lying around. Then someone picks it up."

"Then anybody can become a Needless…" Yamada looked grim as he and Gido considered that possibility. "Is it possible there are Fragments out there without a Needless master? And can they be extracted out of a Needless?" Cruz voiced his concerns.

"Well no one has ever tried the latter but the former is very possible. In fact I believe the Energizers are used to transport the fragments here. But I think it won't be so easy to insert a fragment into a person. There are still a lot of factors to think over. Blood type, mental state, rejection possibility, cellular makeup, the body's energy limit, the fragment synchro percentage…."

"But even so we can't ignore the possibility….." Gido folded his arms and was deep in thought. "If the Simeon are looking for these fragments, then our best course of action would be to find them first."

**So the Resistance has realized more about Simeon's new objectives. So the battle of the Fragments will begin.**


	19. Chapter 19

Aldous was having a nice dream in his bed about how he won a year's supply of Super Gel.

Just when he was about to popped open the first can and start his celebration, he gawked as the can turned into a loudspeaker, along with all the rest of the cans.

"Oh shit….."

"ATTENTION EVERYONE PLEASE HEAD STRAIGHT FOR THE CENTRAL HUB. WE HAVE AN URGENT MEETING." Aldous was so stunned by the announcement voice as it reverberated through his ears, that he spasmed out of his bed and fell head-first on the floor.

"God damn it….." He felt tears well up in his eyes. "I never even got the first drop….."

**A few minutes later…**

By "everyone", the announcement really meant everyone. Aldous had never seen the central hub this jam-packed before. The entire resistance was present. Soldiers, engineers, Needlesses, drivers, scientists, even some children. While if you count Yamada and Mio as children.

Aldous suddenly felt very small. He was easily blocked by many of the tall heads of some members and he felt squished like he was in a can of sardines.

"You owe me for this…" Aldous suddenly felt himself get lifted up from above. "Huh?" He turned and gawked as a branch extending from Eve lifted him up to the ceiling, which she was safely anchored by tree-looking roots.

"Couldn't you just stretch your head?" Aldous asked the girl as they watched from above. "And make myself look like an ugly giraffe? I rather die."

In the centre of attention was Gido and Disc. Blade was at the second floor of the room, looking down from the railing along with many others. Setsuna had employed Seto's help and she, Seto and Mio rised up to join with Aldous and Eve, floating like astronauts in space. "Do you guys always have to fight for room like this?" Mio inquired, seemingly having fun in her weightless state as she precariously threw her bear.

While precariously for if that bear fell on anyone's head, he probably wouldn't live.

"So you're the guy who beat me?"

"Um….yep I guess so." Aldous didn't know how to react to a girl he had fought just yesterday. "Well my name is Mio. And you are?" Mio extended her hand to shake Aldous'.

"I'm Aldous. And I wouldn't want to shake your hand. Sorry." Aldous waved his hands in peace, fearing a bone-crushing death grip could mean the last time he could use his hand.

"Shh…they're starting," Seto put her finger in front of her mouth, silencing the two.

Gido was the first to speak. "I have called all of you here for a meeting. After a successful air base mission-" Aldous' heart swelled with pride. Though he didn't quite know how he pulled it off, he still did. "-and a successful retrieval-" Seto nodded with approval. "- we have obtained rather valuable information. Information that could prove to be instrumental in defeating Simeon. Disc, may you?"

"Right, Professor Gido." Disc tapped some buttons and Aldous gawked as projectors began to protrude from the central pillar right in the middle of the room. The projectors began to glow and soon holographic screens form over each of them.

"As you can see here-" A tube like object appeared on the screen. "We have discovered that Simeon have been importing large numbers of Energizers. Well you may not know what they are but my records have identified them as Fragment preservers." A unanimous gasp resounded through the room. "What do you mean?" An engineer spoke out.

"These Energizers preserve fragments that have been removed from their natural state."

"You mean Simeon is extracting fragments from Needlesses?" Another voice came out.

"No, not Needlesses. We are talking about natural Fragments."

"What?" "Huh?" Aldous heard a plethora of conversations erupt within the crowd. "Natural fragments?" "Fragments can be found outside of a body?" "What is Simeon up to?"

"Please, please…" Gido raised his voice and the crowd silenced. Disc continued. "Yes, there are fragments that are naturally outside of Needless' bodies. We theorise that Simeon hopes to capture all the natural fragments and thus grow stronger."

"Then we FIGHT BACK!" A soldier shouted and the crowd shouted along in agreement. "No we can't!" Disc waited for the crowd to quiet down before explaining. "You all know of the Stigmata. Yes?" The crowd nodded in acknowledgement.

"Stigmata?" Aldous whispered. "Legendary symbols that appear on a Needless' body. It symbolizes that the Needless has the most elements of the Second Christ." Eve explained as Disc continued.

"And we have only seen two Stigmata. The one on Arclight. And the one on Saten."

"Saten?" Aldous heard the name reverberate through his mind. Saten…..Saten….Who is he? "Eve? Who's Saten?" He turned to the girl who had a sentimental look on her face.

"I'll tell you later?" She assured him with a sad smile as Disc continued.

"We have lost Saten. So we are outnumbered 1 Stigmata. And despite our attempts at raids, we have been unable to drive Simeon out. Saten mentioned that the Second himself had 12 of the Stigmata on his body. This means that there are 10 Stigmata out there, lying around there naturally and without a human body."

Disc took a moment to breath and she pressed another button. The screens buzzed for a while before showing a familiar face. "That engineer!" Aldous felt his jaw drop.

"This is Kusaki Joule. Our retrieval of a data disk on him has revealed that he specialized in implantation and cybernetics. We fear that Simeon is employing him to make Needless soldiers using the Fragments. And if Simeon finds all the Stigmata and succeed in their mission…."

"It will be like fighting the Second himself….." Eve shivered at the revelation as a low worried murmur went through the crowd.

"So we find them first, right?" Blade called up from the railings.

Disc nodded. "Yes, to beat Simeon, we need to beat them at their own game. We find the Stigmata first."

"Then what? We use them?" A voice came out from the crowd.

"No, we destroy them…." Gido sighed as the crowd went into an uproar. "Are you serious?" "We find the world's most powerful fragments and destroy them?" "Can't we use them ourselves?" "We stand a better chance with these fragments against Simeon!"

"SHUT UP!" The Resistance went silent as Blade dropped down from above. "Are you sure we should do that, Gido? I can't even memorise them?" Blade questioned the good doctor.

"No, we must destroy them. Imagine, Blade. If Arclight manages to memorize all the Stigmata, who knows how horrific he can get." Gido stated this very possible risk.

"But what if…."

"Enough, Blade! It's decided. We can bring back any fragments but a Stigmata must be destroyed. That's final!"

Aldous looked as the crowd was dead quiet. They all knew the primary mission: kill Arclight. If they allow him to get any stronger, their mission would be near impossible. They can't take that risk.

"Then how will we transport them? We don't have Energizers like them…"

"Leave that to me." Aldous gasped as Telnure walked up to the centre of attention. "I know the Energizer blueprints. I was always much better at using my lasers to make stuff rather than destroy stuff. And I still have a debt to pay back." Telnure nodded at Aldous with a grateful smile.

"Then it's settled. We will start production of the energizers today. Tomorrow, we will put down possible locations of natural fragments on the mission board."

"Meeting dismissed."

**The Resistance have a new goal and a new race against the Simeon to find the natural Stigmata. But for now Aldous will now hear about Saten from Eve.**


	20. Chapter 20

Aldous was let down by Eve as the Resistance dispersed and the central hub was once again spacious and comfortable. Setsuna, Seto and Mio soon followed while Blade chose to jump down too. Probably because he was attracted to the pink-haired bear-hugging moe girl.

"So who's Saten?" Aldous pursued his early curiosity. He had heard the name from somewhere before but can't seem to get his finger on it.

"The old friend we have been talking about." Eve spoke as she too came down from the roof. "He was one of Simeon's Strongest and Arclight's right-hand man. Or so we thought."

"Old friend? So he's the one who managed to kill Arclight."

"Yes and no...He did kill Arclight but not permanently. Arclight was revived with his assistant Riru's help and thus Saten told us to run away immediately. But before that, he passed us messages through telepathy."

"Telepathy. So that's his fragment?"

Yamada shook his head. "No. Saten is unique in that he can manipulate his fragment in ways that are beyond normal understanding. At first, we thought that he had the same power as you – heat absorption and expulsion. But we were wrong about it. His ability revolves around dark matter manipulation, the unknown black matter that covers most of the universe. It is why he is considered one of the Stigmata."

"So how does he uses telepathy...?"

"We don't know." Yamada stated as Disc printed out a picture through her mouth. "Here's how he looks like."

Aldous took the picture in hand and looked at it. The man was shockingly muscular and had banadages covering his eyes and nose. His hair was white to like Blade's. Unfortunately he didn't feel a sense of recognition when he saw the face.

"What we do know is that he is dead now and he was the reason behind reviving the Resistance again. He told us to set up the Resistance in order to take on Simeon on a more level playing field." Gido looked down. "I also know that Saten was a colleague of mine."

"Colleague?"

"Kannazuki Kyouji. One of my assistants. I thought he had died during the accident of the Adam Project but instead he survived." Aldous noticed that Gido was holding on to something inside his pocket, but he chose not to pursue it.

Aldous turned to Eve.

"So why do not just say he is Saten instead of old friend?"

"Well...um...you see, Satan and you both used Dai Yon Ha Do."

"What!" Aldous raised an eyebrow.

"Sure, the fragment is different. But the fact that your attacks both have the same name and are visually identical...We kinda of expect that Saten might know you."

Aldous knew that wasn't all, "And...?"

"And that you might be a Stigmata, yourself. But it seems that we were wrong."

Aldous took a minute to take it in, silent.

"You thought I was a Stigmata?"

Eve nodded.

Aldous looked down, his hair obscuring his eyes from view. Then he began to giggle.

"I am so stupid." He ridiculed himself.

"You guys were all paying attention to me because you think I'm a Stigmata. SO you were just using me like a weapon?" Aldous glared at all of them, rubbing his head in frustration.

"I thought that my doubts about you guys were wrong but I guess I was just tricking myself..." Aldous sighed, deep in thought.

"Aldous..." Eve stretched out to assure him but he swatted her hand away.

"You didn't even see me as one of you, didn't you? Didn't you?"

Aldous felt his rage build and he rushed at Eve, his hand throttling her as he pushed her against the wall. "ALDOUS!" Setsuna tried to pull him off but instead her hands were burnt by heat being emitted from his body.

"Ach...cah..." Eve choked as the room began to freeze. She looked at Aldous. His eye burnt with fury and his teeth gritted, seemingly capable of chewing bones between them.

"Aldous..." Eve began to morph and Aldous was snapped out of his rageful trance when the girl he knew as Kaysin was now being suffocated by his own hands.

"ARGH!" Willing his arm, he threw the transformed Eve to one side and Yamada, Gido and Disc ran to her side. Seto, Mio and Blade stood steadfast in front of them, blocking Aldous. "Why you..." Blade glared at Aldous, who returned it.

"Wait!"

Blade and Aldous gasped simultaneously as Setsuna got between them. "Out of the way Setsuna! I need to teach this punk a lesson!" Blade ordered.

"And make him hate you more?"

Blade, hearing this, stopped his advance and relaxed his stance. Aldous, however, remained cautious and when Setsuna turned to face him, he readied to give her a punch. "You knew. You knew and yet you never told me!"

"I know how you feel. Please calm down!"

"I thought you were good!" Setsuna's eyes widened at Aldous's last statement. "I thought you were someone I could trust. Someone that I could empathize with. Someone who I can use to see the Resistance in a better light. And now?" Aldous' fist shivered as the walls began to form icicles and flames now burst out of his arm.

"I took on Simeon, left my city life, risked my life to help out you guys! But instead you returned that with trickery and exploitation!"

"I know we are wrong! But we couldn't risk Simeon getting you. So we had to get you to join us."

"Oh it's always about Simeon getting me! You could have just told me from the start!"

Aldous' swung his arm and Setsuna closed her eyes for the incoming punch. Mio, Seto and Blade couldn't react fast enough to stop it.

Whirl! Setsuna felt the wind brush through her hair and her face was sweating from the heat. But she wasn't flying. Opening her eyes, she noticed the burning fist stopping millimeters in front of her face. Aldous, who was breathing heavily, now had eyes that were tired and depressed. "Why does everyone have to make use of me?" He let down his fist and began to stumble towards the hub door.

Setsuna reached out. "Hey..."

Aldous turned his head, giving her a death glare. As she pulled her hand back, Aldous focused on his unsteady walk out of the hub, leaving the group behind.

A crowd had gathered at the hub entrance, having heard the commotion, but they avoided the half-dead stride of the boy and stepped away from the trail of ice he left behind.

"We were wrong..." Eve's words was still etched in his head.

He thought back to before. "I was wrong about you."

They were always wrong about him.

**Aldous' world comes crashing down and now he shows signs of his past being similar to this.**


	21. Chapter 21

Aldous sat on the bed, silent and brooding. The ice formation around him continued to grow but they did not dare to touch his literally burning hot body. Even the bed sheets are turning black as the fabric smoked at his touch.

"We were wrong about you."

Eve's words still hung about and Aldous tried to swat it away like as it is some annoying fly. "Shut up!" He roared as he covered his ears to block out the growing mass of voices.

"We were wrong about you."

"You aren't good enough."

"We had better hopes for you."

"I thought you could help. I guess not."

"Aldous?" Aldous turned to whoever is calling his name. "Can I come in?" It's Setsuna.

Aldous nearly shouted to go away but he hesitated. Finally, he sighed and called her in. As the blue hair girl entered, the ice began to close in on her and now icicle spikes surrounded her, all ready to pierce her at Aldous' command. The girl was obviously nervous but she was also determined.

"What do you want? Found something that you need me to help you with?"

"No...What's wrong? I'm sorry from keeping it from you but..."

"But what? But you are afraid that I might overreact and see you as an enemy. Well it looks your worries were true. So all the more to keep secrets from me."

"Aldous...Please tell me what's wrong. I understand you might think that we were too paranoid to actually keep you from the truth but we never once thought of using you. You are..."

"One of you guys. Ha. That's what I thought an hour ago." Aldous gazed at his palm as a fireball formed in his hand. The flames, just like his mind, were unstable and Aldous quickly quelled them.

"And when Eve turned into Kaysin, you let her go. Surely, you still see us as friends."

"Only Kaysin...Kaysin was the only one who never used me."

"What?" Setsuna wanted to get closer but the ice spikes deterred her to.

"Back at school, in the city, my delinquent lone wolf act always attracted people to me. But everytime, every single time, they were just looking for someone to help them out with problems or beat up someone they hate. They never really wanted to be friends. When I refuse to do what they want, they would lose interest and throw me aside, ignore me. Only Kaysin, or should I say Eve, talked to me when she came in. She would talk about life, normal chat. Though it was just chat, it made a difference. For the first time, someone did not see me as a tool nor did she had any overwhelming expectations of me. That was why I became her friend. But now...now she's just a fake persona created to get to me. Even when I know that, I still can't bear to destroy the one person that ever appreciated me. Damn it." The ice began to retreat and Setsuna promptly took a step close but the ice jumped back to life and stood on guard again.

"Aldous, please. We never intended to use you. We only wanted to protect you."

But Aldous seemed to have not heard her. In a trance-like state, Aldous continued to speak. "Have you heard about family businesses?"

"Huh?"

"I used to have a family, you know. Used to. My father was a leading scientist, one of the best about the Needlesses. And every day he would bring me when I was young to his work place. And you know every time what he said. "Someday, son. You would take over my research on the Needless. You make great discoveries and take my place as one of leaders of science." He had such high hopes for me, the old man. He always taught me science, talk to me about the Needless, discuss his work with me. I was coping well then. But when I became 13, 3 years ago, my dad came back from work. His eyes, when they looked at me were no longer that of warmth and fatherly love but the eyes you would use when looking at a stranger. And he ceased to bring me to his lab and stopped talking to me altogether. When I approached, he would stay silent and when I did well in the school exams, he would just say I won't amount to anything."

"No way..."

"At first, I thought I had done something wrong. That I had somehow offended him. But over time, that reason seemed impossible and instead I felt that I never lived up to what he had expected. But now, now..." Aldous smoothed his hand over the ice like as if it was a pet. "Now I know that the latter was true. I never lived up to his expectations of myself being a pure human. He knew that I was a Needless somehow. The day he came back, when he looked at me, I would become something alien, nothing close to his child. And in his mind, he would think that he had lost a son and gained a monster."

Aldous' hand then clenched, crushing the ice. "The man never even loved me. He only saw me as a candidate to take his place. And when I fell short of what he expected by being a Needless, he would cast me aside."

Setsuna's eyes widened as she noticed teardrops falling onto the ground as streaks of them swam across Aldous' face.

"I hate Needless. I hate humans. I hate being used. I hate being ignored. I hate Simeon. I hate the Resistance. I hate the city. I hate the Black Spot. And..."

"I hate myself."

Setsuna, gasped as Aldous' hand began to burst into flames and the ice had now caught her feet. "Aldous! What are you doing?"

"Taking out the thing that I hate the most. And making sure you won't stop me."

Setsuna tried to struggle out as Aldous slowly but steadily moved his flaming fist nearer and nearer to his face. "Don't do it!" Setsuna screamed as she punched the ice in vain.

"I'm coming, Dad..."


	22. Chapter 22

Snap!

Aldous gasped as a hand caught his burning one and the hand's arm was connected to his side table. A side table he never remembered being there. "Eve..."

"I knew you would try something like this..." The blue-hair girl appeared as her disguise as the side table faded away. In a swift movement she managed to lock Aldous' arms behind his back and pushed down on the bad. "Let go!" Aldous tried to burn Eve with his touch but her Doppelganger ability allowed her to resist it.

"Thank goodness..." Setsuna managed to finally pull herself out of the ice and helped Eve against the struggling Aldous. "Let me go! Let me go!" He roared, his eyes widened and his pupil constricted in rage.

"Calm down, Fenris!" Eve snapped at him.

"You still call me that? Call me by that pet name?"

"You are not a pet...You are..."

"A tool? A weapon? A failure? What?"

"YOU ARE A FRIEND!" Eve and Setsuna shouted into Aldous' ears in unison. The joint attack managed to snap him out and almost immediately the boy seemed to cease struggling.

"Prove it." He said the very same words he had said back then. Back when he asked Eve to prove the Resistance's good intentions. "Prove that you are indeed my friends..."

Eve and Setsuna felt Aldous no longer resist and thus they let him go. The boy, calm and stoic, looked at their eyes. Once again, years of eye experience kicked in and in their eyes was worry, care and concern. "Why?" He asked them as he lost his spirit and slouched against the wall. "Why do you care about me? I'm just a means to an end, right?"

"No...You are our friend..."

"Good guys stay with good guys, right?" Eve joked as Aldous understood with a smile. "Black and White...So much easier to understand." He muttered in his now tired state.

"You might have a bad past but in the present we are your family now. The Resistance is your family...Remember how much fun you had with us. How much you have bonded with the group." Eve smiled. "I can't ignore the fact that we have betrayed you by keeping secrets from you. But we appreciate the things you have done for us. Thank you...friend..." Eve whispered it into Aldous' ear, allowing it to sink in to his head.

"Maybe...maybe..." Aldous nodded as he got up from his slouching position. "So promise me that you won't keep me in the dark again unless it's absolutely necessary...Okay?" Aldous extended his pinky.

"What's that?"

"Something my father and I did a lot. We would hook our pinkies in a promise. You should try it."

Slowly, Eve and Setsuna both hooked their pinkies. "Wait for us!"

Aldous gawked as suddenly a mass of pinkies from nowhere. Blade, Mio, Gido, Seto, Yamada joined in the pinky promise. "Huh? You guys..."

"Can't let you have all the fun." Blade smirked as Disc sighed from the sidelines. She never really believed in pinkies anyway.

Aldous suddenly felt his spirits return to him and as he watched the massive pinky hook from all sides, he could do nothing but smile in glee. Maybe this isn't so bad after all.

**Somewhere far away,**

Villagers begin to run out of the rural remote town as they noticed a black car approaching. The males were holding pickaxes, hoes, scythes and rakes, anything they can use. As the car came to a halt, the villagers created a human wall in front of the village entrance. "Simeon! Come out and face us like a man!" The villagers yelled at the car. "We aren't letting you into our village!" The villagers cheered in unison, but not one took a step closer to the car.

Soon the car's side door opened and from it stepped out a young red-haired girl in a school uniform. "What the hell? Why did you..." The villagers, clearly shocked by the sudden appearance of the girl, lost their initial gutsiness and gung-ho.

The girl walked towards them. "Stay back!" The head of the group, a burly mustached male, warned the girl. "I'll give you one chance..." The girl replied nonchalantly as she continued walking. "Swear your allegiance to Arclight-sama. Or die."

"Like hell I will! I don't know why you did it but I will kill you! YAHHHH!" The leader charged at the girl with his hammer but then the girl raised a hand. "Argh..." The leader suddenly grabbed his stomach in pain and then, to the shock of the people, his body exploded into a bloody mess of organs and bone fragments.

"Anyone else?"

The girl was absolutely indifferent to the mess the blood had made on her dress and she continued her slow deliberate advance. "What's happening?" The villagers asked as the ground began to tremor and shake. The quakes have returned. "I will give you one last chance..."

"Screw your chances, Havoc, we will fight you to the last men!" The men continued their show of confidence, though their shivering legs and sweat betrayed their nervousness.

"Then, allow me, Uten, the left hand of God, to punish the sinners in front of me!" The girl simply walked right through the human wall as the men began to explode one by one, amid screams of terror and pain. Horrified, the women and children began to retreat to their houses. Uten looked at them, hesitating for a while. "Forgive me..." She whispered as she raised her hand at the village.

As she turned and left, the quakes caused the village to break apart and soon protruding spikes of earth obliterated the entirety of the village, blood-stained and flesh everywhere. To ensure no survivors, the same air micro-explosions commenced as they blown away the entire village clean, leaving nothing but a bloody rock formation that was never there a few minutes ago.

"Objective complete..." As she reported this through her communicator, Uten felt tears well up in her eyes but tried to clean them up out of sight from the driver in the car.

After all, the village she had just destroyed was supposed to be her home.

**Havoc is now Uten and now she has to do the bidding of Simeon. Please review!**


	23. Chapter 23

Aldous laid in his bed, looking up at the crudely made ceiling of the medical room.

Everyone just now had left after Disc suddenly reported that they have lost contact with one of the Black Spot villages. Blade, Disc and Seto had headed out for there already. Eve had chased Yamada out, yelling at him that he owes her some Super Gel. Setsuna and Mio went back to their room for the night while Gido proceeded back to the hub for a coffee break before going to Telnure to discuss the Energizer plans.

"Everyone has something to do...Friends, huh?" Aldous gazed at his pinky, the one he had used to make that massive pinky promise. It was kinda hilarious and painful, getting your pinky pulled from all directions. The ice that used to layer the floors and walls had all disappeared with the only the air being slightly misty due to Aldous adjusting the heat to create an aircon-like feel.

Feeling his eyes fluttering, Aldous allowed himself to slowly doze off and soon he felt his mind went out.

**The next morning...**

"Rise n shi...HEY!" Eve complained as Aldous quickly blocked out the trumpet with his finger. "My hand!" She puffed her cheeks in annoyance as the trumpet turned back into her hand. Aldous' ears, for now, were safe. But not for long.

"GET UP!" Abandoning her trumpet, Eve grabbed Aldous' ear and screamed into it. That got him done and all washed up in less than 10 minutes. "Urgh..." He murmured as he followed Eve out of the room. Or rather Eve dragged him out of it. Of course, for breakfast, a well-fought can of Super Gel. Once they are done struggling, Aldous and Eve both blocked out their ears as the morning announcement loomed.

"Attention all Resistance members!" The ground shook as Disc's voice rang through the entire base. "The mission to find the natural fragments is a go! Engineers, please report to Telnure at the factory for the manufacturing of the Energizers! Soldiers and Needlesses, please come to the central hub to get your missions and the prototypes! The rest of you will continue on normal Resistance operations!"

As the echoes disappeared, Eve and Aldous finally sighed in relief as they headed for the hub.

The hub was bustling once again, with a large crowd in front of a mega huge virtual board. There were catergories of missions. Some were overseas, outside of the Black Spot. Others were within the Black Spot itself and the rest were errands and requests from inside the base itself. Of course, there was another catergory called Natural Fragments and Aldous and Eve looked it up from within the jostling crowd. "Do we get to choose?"

"It depends. It works very much like a guild system. If I remember correctly, a team of two or three will be sent on each mission. You can form a team of your own or just sign up as an individual. Do you have a phone?"

"Yes." Aldous pulled it out. It had been gifted to him by Gido before.

"Right. So if you have people willing to work with you, the mission is a go and you will notified via your phone. You saw all those computers Gido is using? He's the one monitoring and operating the entire mission system."

"Wow..." Aldous scanned through the board of missions. There were thousands of missions to choose from. He's having a hard time to figure out which one to do. "Hey Eve. Why don't you have a mission with me? I'm kinda confused on what to choose..."

Eve shook her head. "Sorry...I already got a mission with Yamada. Setsuna, if I remember, had already went off with Mio somewhere. So I guess, you are on your own." Eve smiled apologetically as she left Aldous alone there, stunned and not knowing what to do.

"Oh man..." he sighed as he looked up at the board again. "What should I do..."

**10 minutes later**

Aldous, tired and not knowing what to do, sat on a bench a few metres away from the board. "Huh..." he sighed, his hands in his hair, frustrated. He had looked up the board multiple times but he had either seen completely empty missions or missions that had teams that were already set. Seems like that no one around here wants to go with a complete stranger. Guess in the Black Spot, trust is hard to come upon.

"Yo, dude, you alright?"

Aldous looked up. In front of him was an African American dressed in a rough combat uniform. The man was taller than him by a good head. The man had a somewhat jovial face, with his brown hair in dreadlocks. However, the man obviously had seen his years in combat. He even had his own personal scars on his bare arms. The uniform was a camouflage short-sleeved muscle shirt and matching combat pants and combat boots. He also wore choice pieces of armor such as a single metal knee pad on his left leg and a right shoulder greave.

The man gave another smile. "Name's Rob. Rob Wenkins," Aldous gazed as the man extended a hand in handshake. "You are a little young for a soldier. I guess you are Needless. So what are you doing here?" Aldous glanced at the fingerless-gloved hand nervously. "Aldous..." he took it in a brief handshake. The man smiled. "You new here?"

Aldous hesitated a while. He was now being approached by a random man. It was inevitable he would feel nervous. "Yes...At least with the mission board over there..."

"Wait a minute..." The man suddenly stared at Aldous' face, scanning his features.

"Aldous...Oh..now I know who you are. You are that Needless who destroyed that air base. Also heard about your duel with Setsuna, pretty cool."

"Huh? How did you know?"

"Word travels fast in the Resistance. We are like one tight-knit family, you know. Everyone knows what everyone knows."

Aldous, hearing this, had his mind travelled back to when he learned about the secrets. "Well not everyone..." He hung his head.

Then suddenly, he got a hard punch on the shoulder. "Ouch...what was that for?" Aldous snapped at the man, who had taken the liberty of sitting beside him.

"You don't know? That's a friendly punch between dudes. See?" Rob once again gave another punch to Aldous' shoulder. Feeling the pain, Aldous rubbed his shoulder. "...Thanks..." he replied to the 'friendly' punch.

"Are you alone? How about you join me on a mission? I got one of those natural fragment missions. What do you say?"

"Huh? We barely know each other..."

"But that does not mean that we can't work together as fellow Needless members. You see, boy, the Resistance is a group, a community, a family. That's why you always see groups being made before choosing missions. No one likes a lone wolf by himself. You got to remember you are more than just a single person. You are a single person with a family at your back."

Aldous gazed at the black man's deep red eyes. They were that of experience and a helpful nature. "Why do you think so highly of the Resistance? Isn't it just a mere fighting rebel group to destroy Arclight?"

"I can't deny that. But you can say that after fighting alongside these guys against life and death for a few months, you kinda grow on them a lot." The man seemed to be nodding to himself, like he was relishing some good memories.

"Oh really?"

"Sure I'm sure. Just give the Resistance time and I'm sure you will see them better." The man raised out his hand again in another offer of handshake. "So, you want to partner up?"

'Uhhhhh..." Aldous blankly looked back at the man. Then, slowly but surely, his own hand rised up to meet Rob's and in a firm lock they shook. Aldous felt a smile climb up his face.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt..."

**Aldous makes a new friend: Rob Wenkins. Now the duo will have to do this mission that Rob has already chosen, in the midst of much activity of the different groups within the Needless gang. Please review.**


	24. Chapter 24

"Oi! You awake?" Aldous fluttered his eyes open and gave out a big yawn. Then he felt a huge jolt as the truck he and Rob were riding had probably rolled over a rock. "Ouch!" He rubbed the back of his head as the truck continued its rocky drive. Rob seemed to be used to the feeling, while the other passengers were either sleeping through or chatting away quietly with their companions. The duo had taken a truck and has ridden it for days now, only stopping for food or a toilet break. Aldous, his eyes lazy and still half-open, could barely see Rob, sitting opposite him, recalibrating his rifle.

Going for his bag, Aldous pulled out a Super Gell Doro Doro, courtesy of Eve and downed it in one fell gulp. In seconds, his eyes popped open wide and he felt the hyper energy that so many kilocalories can bring you.

As he pushed his slouching body up from the cloth walls of the truck's carriage, Aldous observed the African American eta up an energy bar, before checking his ammunition. "So what brings an American to Japan?"

"Who, me? Oh, I guess I used to be part of a Japan restoration organization from the USA. Even after the war, some of us don't really think Japan is all that bad. Your culture, manga, anime and technology was all worth to stay in this world. But Simeon didn't take kindly to us. We were disbanded and left to rot on Japan. But I found the Resistance in time and thought they could use a US marine to help. Ha! Semper fi!" Rob smiled as he pulled out a special metal military bottle and drank some water.

Vroom! The truck suddenly came to a halt. "Alright! We're here!" Rob gestured Aldous to follow and the two jumped out of the carriage to the hard sandy ground. As the wind blew, Aldous tried to shoo away the flying sand and Rob instinctively put on some cool goggles. "Americans." He smiled as the truck began to drive off, leaving the two alone in the sandy land.

"Alright!" Rob pulled out his phone as he checked the objectives. "Aldous, see that village?" Rob pointed towards an almost invisible silhouette in the dust clouds. "Let's head there for a stop!"

**3 minutes later**

As Rob and Aldous fought through the sand, they finally managed to get to the village. The streets were barren, thanks to the sandstorm, and the houses had their roofs layered with sand. Seeing the nearest building having a wooden sign of a cup, Aldous and Rob deduced it as an inn and headed right in.

As they stepped in, suddenly they were met with fierce stares and glares. Inside the inn was a bar but the men at the tables were now all looking at the boy and soldier who had just walked in rather than their drinks. "We are from the Resistance!" Rob suddenly shouted out.

"WAHHHH!" Aldous and Rob were thrown out of the inn in the speed of an arrow. "Ouch..." Aldous and Rob groaned. "Don't come back here again!" The inn-keeper roared at them with his broom and his army of men, who were glaring daggers at them. "You people bring more trouble than good!" Giving a snorty 'Hmmmph!', the pig of a man went back in with his gang.

"Not so popular, huh?" Aldous groaned as Rob pulled him up.

"You guys okay?"

Hearing this, Aldous and Rob turned to the new voice. In front of them was a girl in her 16s with blonde hair and emerald eyes. She was dressed in what looked like an orange sleeveless sweater and green jeans, which was a stark contrast to the headphones that matched her eyes.

"C'mon. I got a place for you guys."

**A few minutes later**

As the girl led them into a house, Rob and Aldous looked around the place. The house was, like most of the buildings in the village, crudely made by wood and metal but it was clearly one of the less furnished houses, with only a simple couch in front of a rudimentary fireplace and two bunkbeds in a different room. The fireplace itself acted as a simple kitchen.

As Aldous looked closer, he noticed a woman in the couch. She looked ancient, her craggy fingers seeming so fragile that he was afraid to go near them. "Candice, who did you bring this time?" The woman tried to get up but the girl rushed to her side. Then Aldous noticed the woman's eyes. They were like pearls, with her pupils clouded out. "She was blind.

"Just some Resistance members," Candice whispered. However, instead of a fierce attack as before, the woman laughed and smiled. "Well if it isn't old friends of mine." The woman laughed as she tried to get up again, but was stopped by Candice again. Don't worry. I just need to make some tea for them. So you are?" The old lady pointed towards Ron who was looking at some old beer, marveling at the age.

"Ron Wenkins, mam." He replied. "Wow. These are old. No way!" He picked the oldest bottle. "1972! That's over a 100 years old."

"Ha!" The lady giggled. "You must have found my grandfather's pride and joy. He used to own such a fantastic winery. That bottle was what was left of his business before the war." The lady then turned to Aldous, who was kind of watching from the sidelines. "Don't be shy, boy. What's your name?"

"Aldous. Aldous Dragon."

"Aye. A wise old dragon. For a boy, your name is unsual." The lady smiled as Candice brought out hot water from the pot over the fire. "Bring it here." The lady motioned to her and the girl obeyed as she placed the jug of water on the table in front of the couch.

"Sit down." She called to the duo and when they did on chairs Candice brought out, the woman feeled her way to the jug handle and Candice quickly brought two cups to her. "My name's Apollo. Yes, I know my name is weird. But I guess I stuck to the codename for so long I forgot my real name." She laughed as Aldous and Rob sat there, somewhat awkward. "You are from the old Resistanace?"

"Old? No no. The Resistance has always been here in the people of the Black Spots. You just need someone to bring it out to full force." The woman smiled at what seemed to be good memories. "So, Rob. What would you have? Tea or coffee? And Aldous?"

Rob gazed at her with a raised eyebrow. "But you just have one jug..."

"Just answer it." Candice nodded to them as the lady was waiting for their answer.

"Coffee. No sugar." Rob quickly replied.

"Ahhh...just water..." Aldous didn't want to bother the woman.

"Ok, sonnys." The woman smiled as she tipped the jug into the cups. What surprised the duo was that what came out wasn't just hot water from the fireplace. Instead hot nice coffee came out into Rob's cup and then hot chocolate into Aldous'. "I guess that's what you really like. Don't you?" The woman laughed while Candice giggled.

As for the two, they were stunned, jaws dropped. "A Needless?" Aldous asked. The woman nodded. "My Fragment is Matter Substitution. I can substitute something for another object that has the same state of matter. See?" The woman waved her hand and the jug turned from simple iron to that of ceramic.

"Needless never cease to amaze me." Rob joked as he laughed along with Apollo and Candice while Aldous sat there, still aghast.

"So what brings two Resistance members to this far out of the Black Spot?" Apollo poured herself some tea and Candice also some fine hot chocolate.

As Aldous drank his hot chocolate, Rob proceeded to explain why they were here, taking a few coffee sips on the way. "Well we are here to, sip, check out on a recent theory, sip, that our scientists had made, sip. We are sent her to look for, sip, a natural fragment."

"Huh?" Candice gasped while Apollo frowned. "A fragment that occurs naturally. Now that's something I never heard before." Grasping her chin in wonder, she looked at Rob.

"So where in particular are you looking for?"

"We aren't sure. We were only directed to this town. We have 3 days to search for a natural fragment before returning to report." Rob gazed at the house's lightbulbs. "Wow. I didn't think that a village would be able to have electricity."

"Huh? Oh. I never noticed myself. Sorry about my blindness." Apollo gazed at Candice. "Since when was the power station back in operation?"

"Oh. It was back in power since last year. Sorry, mom. I wasn't really paying much attention."

"I guess I can't blame you, honey." The woman took the blonde girl's hand in a motherly assuring grip. Candice smiled and thanked her.

"Funny, though. That power station had been off for nearly half a century. I'm surprised it started coming back." Seeing that she was talking to herself, Apollo turned to Aldous and Rob. "I'm sorry I can't really help you but you are good to stay for the next 3 nights. The inn-keeper has been in Simeon's pockets for a long time, so he doesn't take kindly to Resistance."

"Won't he..." Rob was about to give his concerns but the elder's smile caused him to hesitate.

"Don't worry. That man has enough brains to know not to cross me. So you are safe. Candice, show them where they will stay."

"Right, mom." Candice smiled and nodded to Aldous as he and Rob followed her to their beds. Meanwhile, Apollo sat in her couch, putting down her jug. Then her smile degenerated into a stern face.

"You can come out now."

An almost inaudible giggling can be heard from beside the lady and she turned her head in time to see a young cloaked particular girl warp right in front of her.

"Helios..."

"Whassup, Apollo?" The mercenary whispered as she helped herself to a jug of hot water. "Aw...no hot chocolate for me, old lady?" Apollo turned to gaze at Candice and the others, her blind eyes being substituted for real usable ones. They had yet to notice Helios' presence.

"So what do you want?" She hissed at the energetic girl.

"Straight to the point, huh? I like that." Helios giggled. "Just helping out a client search for a particular boy." Apollo stared at Aldous, whose back was turned.

"Who?"

"You know me, Apollo. A mercenary must be professional. Of course I can't divulge my clients. Though..." A menacing smirk popped up on her childish-looking face. "If the client was Simeon, it won't be very good for you."

"What do you want this time, collector? What material you want me to substitute?"

"You catch on fast. But let's be friends for a while. I won't tell Simeon, alright?" Helios smiled as Apollo's frown formed a large V on her face.

"But of course...you will owe me a favour..." Helios grinned as she disappeared out of sight.

**Rob and Aldous have arrived at their destination and have found some new friends. And Helios is now getting more sinister, even blackmailing Apollo. What is she up to?**


	25. Chapter 25

**The next morning,**

"And we are ready." Rob Wenkins felt a wide grin on his face as he presented to Candice and Apollo a blushing Aldous. He was dressed in a similar combat uniform to Rob's but it sported a hood and had a black-red palette to it. Aldous scratched his body at its most sensitive places, the rough fabric making them itchy.

"Why do I have to wear this?" Aldous sighed as Candice was clapping in approval and Apollo was asking what was happening, her blindness preventing her from seeing Rob's masterpiece.

"So where do we go first?" Aldous turned to Rob, who was getting his water can refilled at the fireplace. "How about the grassfields?" Candice suggested as she suddenly appeared beside him.

"Grassfields? In a desert like this?"

"Makes sense." Rob nodded as he capped his water can. "A grassfield in the middle of a desert is unusual. My guess...a fragment is causing it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"How can you be so unsure?" Candice countered Aldous' concerns as she danced her head along with the music that her headphones were giving. Aldous felt a sneaking temptation to rip them off and listen to them himself. "Mom, can you take care of yourself for a while?"

Apollo, hearing this, smiled as she took her energetic daughter's hand. "Don't worry, honey. Your mom isn't a pushover."

"Wait a second." Aldous suddenly came between them. "You are coming with us?" He pointed an accusing finger at Candice, at the same time scratching his annoying itchy armpit. Candice swatted it away as she stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "Why not? You need a guide around here, don't you?"

"You'll just slow us down."

"Will not."

"Will to!"

"Will not!"

"Will to!"

Rob then separated the bickering two using his hands. "Rob to children, over. We will need to hurry, over." He spoke in a childish voice.

"Children?" Aldous and Candice said in unison. Then Rob gasped as anger marks popped up on their foreheads. "Oh shit..."

"YAHHHH!" Rob screamed as he was punched out of the house, with Candice and Aldous walking close behind. "Just this once." Aldous warned as he tried to be in front of Candice. "Oh, it will be more than once..." Candice retorted back at him as she too tried to overtake him.

Rob can only sigh as he followed the bickering duo as they continued their race of who's in front.

"Looks like I picked an interesting guy to partner up with."

**In the Resistance Factory...**

"Get me that titanium! Move that radioactive material out of the way!" Telnure ordered about as he and Gido sat at the Energizer blueprints.

"Looks like we can move past the prototypes..." Gido nodded approvingly as he watched Telnure use his optic beam meld together a new Energizer.

All around him, engineers were running about with their own melding tools and yelling for some new materials or another hand. Trucks full of resources came in once in a while to deliver and what used to be a car factory had been modified to fit Energizer production.

**At the attacked village...**

Disc felt a gulp went down her throat as she watched Seto use her gravity to move the huge stalagmites out of the way and Blade burning down the bloody remains of the villagers.

"What the hell came through here..." She muttered as she activated her Scan and then was shocked to detect what seemed to be residual fragment energy.

"Blade!" The trio walked up to a cave, which seemed to have been literally ripped open and apart as Disc found the source of the fragment energy, a glowing spot. "A fragment was here...They probably took it..." Seto suggested as the others nodded in agreement.

"Hope's not lost yet...The fragment's energy had been blocking the other one..." Disc smiled as she protruded mini-drills from her hands and to Blade's and Seto's surprise, dug a little deeper at the spot. Soon she produced a glowing crystal, which looked like Blade's Byakugou but had a crimson glow to it.

"Natural Fragment found..."

**Underground...**

"How much do we have to dig?" Eve roared at Yamada as her hand-drill reverted to her hand. Grabbing another can of Super Gel Doro Doro thrown to her, she drank it up as Yamada held up his sensor to the wall she drilling into.

"It's definitely in here...Just a little more, Eve..." Yamada pointed to an exact location as Eve sighed.

"Time to go on Overdrive..." Eve grinned as she produced six arms from her body, before each arm transformed into a drill. "Drillmaster Eve INCOMING!"

**In a Simeon mini-outpost...**

"That's it?"

Setsuna sighed as she kicked another man to unconscious. As another trio of Simeon soldiers shot at her, she whizzed past them, completely avoiding their shots. "Dean Drive: Assassin's Hand..."

As the men fell, another wave of soldiers came from her right. Just as they were about to fire, a huge column of stone came whizzing over her head, crashing right into the wave.

"Mio-chan PUNCH!" Setsuna giggled as Mio crashed from above, creating a massive crater with her fist, sending the enemy flying.

"Time to go in!" She and Mio turned as another wave of soldiers came in trucks. But this time the soldiers were wearing their Resistance uniforms and yelled and cheered as they shot past the two Needless, into the remaining Simeon soldiers.

"Time to show them what we are made of, Mio!"

"Right, onee-chan!"

**In a graveyard...**

The graveyard was filled with many tombstones. Some were old and beginning to be worn away, whole others were clearly fresh. Most of them had the names of Resistance fighters. It was the graveyard of the fallen, the heroes, the ones who died free.

And in the midst of these fallen warriors, one still stand. His white trench coat, marked with its distinctive words, flowed in the wind as the rain threatened to fall. The man, with his orange buzz-cut, pulled out a cigarette and then with a snap of his fingers, lighted it up.

Looking into the looming storm clouds, Teruyama "Uchida" picked himself up as he laid the last flowers to the tombstones. The tombstones of the comrades that had fallen beside him in battle. Comrades that he had failed to protect. Comrades that he will avenge.

He grinned as he picked up his katana and then sheathed it back. Bowing to the tombstones in respect, he continued to speak to the tombstones. "It is time. I will give you guys a proper burial."

Raising his fist in the air, he closed his eyes as it burst into flames.

4 miles away, a lizard slipped through the grass, before standing on the rock for its usual sunbath. Then it was jolted and shocked by a sudden explosion and a blinding light from afar. As it looked on at the explosion sight, all it could see was a huge mushroom cloud rising into the air and a huge shockwave sent the lizard flying through the air.

As he marched out of the smoke, Teruyama felt the ground crack under his feet. Looking down, he noticed the sand he been turned to glass by the huge heat of his technique. The graveyard had now been completely wiped clean from the face of the earth by this technique.

The technique that had the power of an atom bomb. The technique that had a name of an atom bomb.

"Little Boy...Atomic." Teruyama whispered as he smiled manically.

**So the Resistance has now gone to work and every group has to do their job. Also I've finally introduced Teruyama Uchida, the Fire Needless, and his improvement. Last one of the group left is Solva, the Magnetic World, who I have mentioned but not shown yet. And she is a Seraph-level as I have said. What will she do when she comes out? Let me see...what do you think I should give Solva as a Seraph power? Please review.**


	26. Chapter 26

"There's nothing here..." Aldous sighed as he laid on the grass lands that stretched for about a few hundred metres in the middle of a desert. He and Rob, plus the girl Candice, had been searching the land, even dug some holes, for hours, with no success. If there was a fragment here, it was long gone.

"Yeah..." Candice laid beside him as she put her headphones back on and began to listen to music. Thankfully, the clouds were overhead, else Aldous and Candice would have been fried if they laid in the grass under a desert sun. "Giving up, already?" Rob complained as he pulled himself out of his tenth hole. "Help me over here, Aldous!"

"Fine..." Aldous groaned as he raised his fist at the soil mound beside the hole and braced himself before giving out a steady Dai-Yon-Ha-Do, sending the dirt back into the hole. With his shovel, Rob patted the soil to flatten it before getting to the resting Aldous and Candice.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" Rob wiped off his sweat with his handkerchief. "Still want to help us, Candice?"

"You kidding?" Candice smiled. "That was fun. Tiring but fun. And resting on the grass got to be the best feeling in the world."

"You sure?" Aldous raised an eyebrow. "Lying in the grass? That's the best feeling?"

"When you have to live in a place like a desert, anything can become the best feeling in the world. Also, Apollo always says that you should always think positive. Do that and the world's obstacles will seem to all disappear..."

"Such as our failure to find the fragment today?"

"Yeah, something like that..." Candice beamed from ear to ear as she picked herself up. "It never fails to refreshes me when I think like that."

"Hey!" Aldous grabbed her hand. "What's your full name?"

"Eh?" Candice quickly pulled her hand away, looking embarassed.

"We didn't really introduce. All I know is that your name is Candice, according to Apollo."

"C'mon, don't be shy." Rob joined in as he drank his watercan.

"I guess...I was a bit rude to not tell you my name in the first place." Candice giggled as she then took a pose of her holding her headphones and seemed to be acting like a DJ. "Name's Candice Groove. Local DJ. Loves to chill with buddies like you guys. Music-enthusiast. Apollo's daughter and only 16 year old in the desert village. And..." She then broke into a dance, a series of B-boy moves. "I break-dance. How's that?" She giggled as she concluded her introduction.

"Erm..." Aldous and Rob looked at her, then each other, then her again. "It was...okay..." Aldous shook hijs head as Rob stifled a laugh. "It could use a little music." The soldier said.

"Like this?" Candice's hand went for the end of the cord of her headphones and pulled it out.

Now imagine your favourite musical song ever. Then increase its volume by 10000 times, as if your musical device had just got connected to a 100 mega-speakers. Then add the ground shaking with each beat and boom and your ear-drums being overwhelmed by how amazing the sound was and how loud. Then imagine yourself being flying through the air, literally blown away by the awesomeness of the sound.

"Put it back in!" Aldous screamed as he and Rob tried to get a grip on the ground, their bodies helplessly flailing in the air. "This is epic!" Rob seemed to enjoying the music.

"I can't hear you!" Candice seemed to be just standing there, as if she didn't mind the blasting volume of her music.

"Aaargh!" Lighting his fists in fire, Aldous propelled himself towards Candice's side. In a swift movement, he grabbed the headphone cord out of her hand and plugged it back into the music player. Almost instantly, the sound disappeared and Rob, who was in the air a moment ago, dropped into one of the holes he had dug. "Aw man!"

"That was..." Aldous was trying to catch his breath. "Surprising..." he muttered as he picked his ear. Despite Eve's trumpet and the Resistance announcement, Aldous never seemed to be able to protect himself against massive sounds.

"Surprising? That was...AWESOME!" Aldous jumped as Rob leapt right out of his hole, his face jubilant and energized.

"You think so?" Candice blinked in surprise. "I know so. Maybe you become a Resistance DJ."

"Really?" Candice's eyes suddenly starry with hope.

"Wait a minute!" Aldous got between the conversation. "A DJ? With that volume? Are you F***ing mad, Rob?"

"Hey, beats having to hear the announcement voice everyday. Besides, a community could really use some spice in it, you know?"

"But...a DJ won't help us fight Arclight..."

"I told you already, Aldous. We are a family, not just some mere resistance force. The more the merrier. Besides, we should bring Apollo back to the Resistance. She's a Needless. She can help."

"And I'm her daughter." Candice nodded in agreement.

Aldous looked at both of their hopeful faces. Scratching his head in frustration, he promptly took out a Super Gel Doro Doro for a drink. "Haa..." He felt a sense of relief wash over him as the energy drink went down his throat.

"Well, I can't stop you..." He gave up. "YES!" Candice jumped for joy at his comment. "You won't regret this!" She assured as she gave a thank-you kiss on Aldous' cheek.

"Wha-?" Aldous blushed as he quickly rubbed off the spot where she kissed. Candice, realizing what she did, quickly turned away, feeling somewhat awkward. Rob, looking on from the side, could only smile. "Ahh...young love..." That comment quickly earned him a fist of fury from Aldous.

"So now what? Looks like it's getting late..." Aldous pointed to the setting sun. "C'mon, Rob..." Then he looked at Candice, who looked back with a questioning look, waiting for him to acknowledge her. "and Candy..."

"Candy?"

"Just a nickname for you..." Aldous shrugged as he dragged the punched Rob away, leaving Candice standing there thinking. "Candy...Candy...I like it! DJ Candy!" Running up to the duo's side, Candice began the walk back to her house with the ones she can call a family.

As they walked away from the grassland, a particular patch of it began to grow out and it began to form into a human body. The grass began to disappear, revealing a smirking figure.

"Target found..."


	27. Chapter 27

"Back already?" Apollo turned to the sound of the doors opening. One hand went for her jug of water while the other crawled towards her weapon, hidden in the sofa cushions. She can't be too careful, especially as a blind woman.

"Yes, mom!" Candy's voice. Apollo relaxed as she released the weapon. "Any luck?" Apollo smiled to her daughter as Aldous and Rob also entered.

"No..." Candy seemed a bit disappointed.

"Then you had any fun?"

"Yes. A lot!" Candy's spirits were raised. Apollo nodded approvingly to her daughter as she gestured to the jug. "Now what will you have?"

**2 minutes later,**

"So I see...the grasslands were just unusually sprouting grass in a desert..." Apollo sighed as she filled Aldous' cup with more hot chocolate.

"Yes...Best bet is that there an underground water source under the spot. So no fragment is interfering with the grasslands..." Rob sipped some coffee as everyone sat around the fire.

"Well since that lead is dead, is there any other place we can look?" Aldous turned to Candy, who seemed to be deep in thought.

All of a sudden the electric lights went out. "God damn it...who turned out the light?" Rob exclaimed as he grabbed his rifle.

"Probably just a break in the power. The old power station just 500 metres from here, while reliable, still kinda breaks down every once in a while..." Candy assured as she drank her Cola. Sure enough, the lights soon came back on.

Apollo absent-mindedly commented, "Funny...that power station has been offline since the war. Who could possibly be maintaining it?" Once she said this, Aldous and Rob couldn't help but exchange glances.

"Hey! What's wrong?" Candy noticed the two.

"No one. That's your answer..." Rob smiled as Aldous began to explain. "Apollo! Is it possible that a fragment could be the one responsible for powering the station?"

"A fragment that controls electricity...Yes it is possible but it has to be right in the core of the main generator or at least somewhere near it."

"But still it's possible, right? Then we have our next lead!"

"Wow...you found your next lead just like that?" Candy seemed to be impressed as she put her headphones back on.

"Was that sarcasm?" Aldous challenged. But he immediately retracted it as he saw Candy's hand deliberately go near the headphone cord. He wouldn't want to risk deafness.

"So after a night's sleep, we'll set off for the station, right? And, Apollo, would you want to join us back in the Resistance?" Rob extended the offer to the woman, who was surprised.

"I'm just an old lady...My Resistance days are over..." Apollo smiled apologetic as she drank her own cup of coffee.

"Mom..." Candy shook her mother as she begged her. "Don't worry, honey. You can go with them when they are done." Apollo reassured her daughter, who seemed disappointed. "Mom..." She begged again.

"Now...now...we should have dinner first and then I'll think about it. All right?" Hearing this, Candy nodded, satisfied by the reply. "Alright..."

"So what do we have for dinner, ma'm? Some nice turkey?" Rob looked around for some food, his stomach urging him on. Aldous tried to calm him down in vain.

"No, just some scrap metal on plates..." Apollo pointed to the dining table. And sure enough, there were scrap metal on plates. Both Aldous and Rob stared on at their dinner as Candy quickly took her seat.

"Ahh...I'm just joking!" Apollo laughed as with a snap of her fingers, the plates of scrap metal were instantly replaced with food. It was a sort of pasta, with tomato sauce and sliced bacon, along with some sprinkling of cheese and spice. "People out of Japan call it spaghetti...Learnt about this food from my old man when we were still young..." Apollo motioned to everyone to dig in.

Aldous looked on as everyone around him began to eat. He wasn't used to just taking food from strangers. Aldous looked at the so-called spaghetti. Then again, it is kind of tempting.

"What's wrong, honey? Eat up!" Aldous gasped as he saw Apollo gesturing him to eat. "How did she see that I wasn't eating?" Aldous wondered but his thoughts were interrupted when Rob gave him another one of those friendly shoulder punches.

"Don't worry. It's not like there are worms in there. Even Needless can't fight on an empty stomach!"

"Yeah, you're right." Alduin shrugged off his doubts. Maybe it's just the woman's sixth sense?

**After dinner...**

Candy sighed as Aldous lulled into sleep. The young Needless still seemed to be suspicious of her and her mother. Even today, he was against her joining the Resistance and now he was afraid to sleep unless he made sure that she wasn't going to stab him in the back.

"Interesting young man...isn't he?" Candice jumped in shock as she felt her mother's walking stick bump against her leg.

"Mom..." Candice turned to face her mother. "You shouldn't be in here..."

"Don't worry. An old lady like me won't be so easily tripped by furniture..." Apollo was interrupted as the loud snoring of Rob from the top bunk-bed filled the room. This was followed by a sudden quick reflex kick from Aldous in the bottom.

"C'mon, let's leave them to dream." Apollo smiled to Candy, who obediently followed her into the living room.

"Besides I need the warm-up for the trip back." Candy gasped at this last comment. "You mean...?"

"Yes..." Apollo nodded in comfirmation. "YEssss..." Candy almost shouted in joy before a quick finger at her mouth quieten her down. "Oooohh...another beer please..." Rob shouted dreamily from the bedroom. Another reflex Aldous kick.

Both females giggled at the men's sleeping activities. "My...my...the Resistance has some new bright young people now...Seems like we might actually have a better chance than before..." Apollo laughed as she was laid down back at her resting spot in the sofa.

"Stay here, mom. I'll get some water to prepare for the trip."

"Don't take too long, hon.." Apollo grinned as she heard the entrance door open and the footsteps of her daughter leaving the house. Then her ears picked up the familiar humming of her daughter to her favorite song on the headphones.

_They tell you a good girl is quiet_

_That you should never ask why_

_Cause it only makes it harder to fit in_

_You should be happy, excited_

_Even if you're jus-_

Then the humming stopped.

And the scream for help followed.

**So what happens to Candy? And can you tell me what song was she humming to herself. Please review!**


	28. Chapter 28

"What the-?" Aldous immediately jumped out of bed, the days of Eve blasting trumpets into his ears coming to use. As Rob groggily opened his eyes, Aldous ran out of the bedroom, only to see Apollo quickly picking herself up. And best of all, her blind eyes had been replaced with completely good ones. He'll ask her about it later. Right now the scream of Candy takes priority. Aldous nodded back to Apollo, who knew what he meant. Aldous made a break for the door and when he pushed it open, he was met with 15 guns pointing right at him. The culprits were all the guys inside the inn and the one who was holding the crying Candy at knifepoint was the same fat pig of a man, the innkeeper.

"Glad to see you..." He smirked as he sadistically gave Candice a kiss on the cheek. "Get off me!" She roared a midst her tears, using her foot to stamp onto the man's foot. "Why you, bitch!" The innkeeper was about to slap her when Aldous growled at them. "Touch her and you will die..."

"Shut up, boy!" The man screamed back at him as Apollo followed Aldous out, an aggressive frown on her face. "What's the meaning of this?" All the men immediately began to back away but they stood fast as the innkeeper prod his knife nearer to Candice's neck.

"Taking my prize and also taking the bounty. You Resistance folks will make a nice money source when Simeon gets you! And don't even think about going to the electrical generator. You will never get that fragment."

"Why does this concern you?" Aldous stepped forward but immediately stopped as the knife began to dig nearer Candice's neck. "Help..." She moaned.

"Oi, what's happening...Oh damn shit!" Rob swore as he ran out of the house with his rifle. "3 of us and 11 of them. Piss-poor odds for those guys..." He whispered to Apollo.

"They have my daughter. We can't simply wipe them out..."

The innkeeper shouted at them. "Silence! We need that electricity. My business needs that electricity. If you take it away, I will be out of a job and this village will suffer as well. Do you want that?" The innkeeper smirked as he hungrily touched Candice's thigh, causing her to squeal. "Leave her alone!" Apollo yelled at him, Rob raising his rifle. "Put it down!" One of the gunmen shouted at them, as he fired a warning shot into the air. "Do it! Or the girl gets it!" The innkeeper threatened as he pointed the knife right into her skin.

"Fine. I dare you..."

"Huh?" Everyone gasped as Aldous suddenly changed stance into one of a relaxed mood. "Fine. Try it." Aldous growled as he approached the group closer.

"What are you doing...?" Rob asked. "Aldous..." Candice whispered as the knife began to dig into the skin. "Damn it, young man!" Apollo cursed him as Aldous walked closer.

But they all lacked something Aldous had. The ability to read eyes. And what he saw in the innkeeper's eyes were that of fear and shock.

"You won't do it..." He exclaimed to the innkeeper. "That girl is the only leverage you have against us. And once she is dead, you will all be no more than bodies on the forgotten sands and your very existence will be that of slaughtered thugs. So I dare you to kill her..." Aldous smirked as he continued his daring act. The innkeeper now became to sweat and his grip on Candice began to loosen.

"Uh boss..."

"Wha...What?" The innkeeper replied to one of his gunmen. Then he realized it a little too late.

Sheets of ice now sprung up as they covered the gunmen one by one. Yelling and screaming in shock, they dropped their weapons before turning into ice statues. "Why you!" The innkeeper yelled in fear and anger as he raised his blade to kill Candice.

"Too slow..." Aldous whispered into the shocked man's ear as he used his flaming fists to push Candice out of the way. Then with a reach, he grabbed the knife and froze the entire man's arm. "That's for even daring to hold a hostage..." Aldous roared as the man screamed and yelled in pain, his eyes wild and panicking. With a pull, Aldous wrenched the man's entire frozen arm off. With a solemn look, Aldous towered over the crawling one-armed man, playing with the knife in his hand.

"Why didn't he come...? Don't hurt me!" Aldous frowned as he watched the man crawl on his three limbs. "Hurt you? I will put you out of your misery. You should be grateful..." Aldous stated as he raised the knife.

"NOOOOO!"

Rob was shocked, his rifle now left hanging as he watched the scene of ice statues around the boy towering over the dead body. Even the desert floor had frozen, much to his surprise. Apollo quickly took Candice in her arms, whispering sweet nothings to her as the blonde girl cried and shivered. As for Aldous, he stood over the dead man's body and then he scanned the entire area around. "Who was supposed to come?" He thought to himself. That was when he received a slap from Apollo. The slap was remarkably strong for an old lady as Aldous was sent on all fours.

"You risked my daughter's life, you idiot!" Apollo yelled at him as Aldous looked back at her in confusion. "I knew what I was doing!" Aldous retorted as he brought himself back up. "Knew what you are doing? It was the Resistance knowing what they were doing that had cost us the defeat!" Apollo ranted at him as she held Candy in her arms.

"Calm down, madam," Rob tried to stop the argument but the woman ignored him.

"You just needed to a second late and Candice would have died! Didn't you even think about that?" Apollo gave Aldous a death-stare.

"Then what do want me to do?" Aldous argued. "Just stand there and let her get violated!" Aldous startled Candice as she looked up.

"No...but you shouldn't have just go on ahead without telling us!" Apollo argued back as her power activated. In an instant, the frozen statues were replaced by standing trees, barren of leaves and clearly dead as pieces of bark flaked off them.

"So says the person who had been keeping the fact that she can see from us!" Aldous began to freeze the ground around him as his fists begun to glow with heat. Inside his mind, something was cheering him on to fight the old lady. It told him how much fun this would be and that he should just go on and take the first strike.

Rob instantly backed away as the two Needless prepared to fight each other. "Hey, we are a family here! Don't battle among each other!" He tried to snap them out of their argument, to no effect.

"STOP!" Both Aldous and Apollo gasped as Candice got in between the two of them, her eyes still red from crying. "What are you doing, honey?" Apollo frowned, her hands going for her weapon hidden in her sleeves, as Aldous halted his own heat absorption. "Get out of the way...girl..." Aldous muttered under his breath as his hair hid his eyes.

"Hey, guys. C'mon! Don't do this! We have to get to the electrical generator!" Rob joined in with Candice as they stood between the Needlesses. Apollo, eyes widened in surprise, hesitated as she removed her hands from her sleeves. "Fine..." She said.

Aldous, his eyes still hidden, began to relax his stance. "There is someone still out there..." He stared at the group, his eyes serious and alert. "The guy said that that someone didn't come. He was expecting some sort of back-up. We need to save our strength before we fight him." Aldous sighed as he too decided to not fight.

"So another Needless?" Rob asked as he picked some of the guns that gunmen had dropped. Candice wanted to pick one up for herself but Apollo scolded her not to.

"I have no idea..." Aldous shook his head. "But I'll give him a message..." Aldous grabbed the limp body of the dead innkeeper as his other fist glowed with energy. Throwing it right on top of him, Aldous pointed up at it. "Dai Yon Ha Do!" Aldous roared as a massive beam of heat soared into the air, obliterating the body along with it. Wherever the enemy is, there is no doubt he will be able to see this.

Aldous flexed his fist as he ended his attack and began to walk towards the power station in the distance. "Hey, you're going now?" Rob shouted to him from behind. "Yes...Simeon knows that the fragment is there...If you don't want to, you can stay behind..." Aldous stared at him indifferently.

"No way, little guy! You are family, remember?" Rob grinned as he ran up to Aldous' side. "Wait for me!" Candice cried out to them but Aldous stopped her with his hand. "Don't...you are still reeling from that hostage situation. Apollo will stay with you in the house. Besides, if we are dealing with a Needless, you will be a problem..." Aldous gave a deep breath. "And we can't protect you..." he whispered the last sentence, out of earshot of everyone.

"Thank you..." Aldous gasped as Candice smiled to him. Just like Setsuna does. "For saving my life..." Candice nodded to him, momentarily stunning him. Then, recovering, he smiled and nodded back.

"Let's go, Rob!" The soldier nodded as the duo began their walk to their power station.

"Please come back safely..." Candice whispered beside Apollo, her words being swept away by the desert wind.

**Hope you like the latest chapter. Sorry for my lack of updates but I have been focusing more on my Soul Eater fic due to overwhelming response. But don't worry this fic is still up! Please review!**


	29. Chapter 29

"Hello!" Rob shouted into the dark abyss that was the power station's interior. As his voice echoed down, the two gawked at the power station's majestic, though somewhat rusty look. The station had two giant exhaust funnels and they seemed to be lacking the usual white smoke of carbon monoxide and dioxide as expected from a thermal station such the one towering in front of them. Aldous noted the long electric power lines that extend from a side of the hanger-like factory as they led to the village nearby. He watched as a bid carelessly dropped onto the lines and a sizzling zap rang through the air for a brief second as the charred corpse dive-bombed into the ground, leaving a trail of roasted feathers. Yep, the station is definitely still running. And right in the center of it is its generator, where the fragment is likely to be.

"C'mon let's go." Aldous was about to brashly advance but Rob quickly stopped him. "So we are just gonna waltz right in and take the fragment? Not likely. I'll go first. You watch my back."

Aldous opened his mouth to argue but Rob seemed to insist. Both of them knew that Aldous would be able to hold his own in a Needless fight so his safety is more important than Rob's. "Alright then..." Aldous grudgingly agreed as Rob brought his trusty rifle to his hip level, beginning to walk into the dark station corridors. Aldous did not like to put a team mate at risk but he knew that Rob was determined to succeed in the mission. And to do that, Aldous is needed for a much better chance.

As the two advanced into the corridors, using the rifle flashlight as their guide, they admired the ancient technology the station was built with and passed by a few offices and even a lounge. However, Aldous could not shake off that creeping feeling that has been irritating him so far as his glowing hands begun to pulse randomly, indicating his loss of concentration. "You okay?" Rob asked, which Aldous returned with a quick nod as they continued their exploration of the station.

"Strange...shouldn't the lights be on with the electricity?" Rob felt himself lose his grip on his rifle and quickly silenced his nervous shivering. The darkness was giving him the twitching sensation as they rounded another corner. It was like someone was watching them this whole time.

"I don't know...maybe they short-circuited for being too close to the fragment..." Aldous suggested as he now felt sticky moss on the walls and he hurriedly shook it off. "Damn...this place is old enough for plants to grow in!" Aldous scowled as he pulled out a Super Gel and drank up.

"Hold it!" Rob yelled out of the blue, shocking Aldous to the point he nearly choked on his favorite drink. "Hac...Cah..cah!" was all he could make as he tried to regain his calm. "Oops. Sorry..." Rob brushed the back of his head in apology.

"What is it?" Aldous managed to sputter out as he finally managed to down his drink. Great, now his throat is sore as his nose picked up the smell of Super Gel mix into his own breath. Which is not a very pleasing combination.

"Feel that? That crackle in the air..." Rob got Aldous' attention away from his throat. Yes, indeed he could feel it. It was very easily missed but when one focused, one could feel the electrifying sensation within the air as the molecules vibrate with each spike of the electrical waves. The fragment's presence could not be more than 20 metres away.

"Behind here!" Aldous gasped as Rob found a door that read "Electrical core". Wait a minute. Electric Core? 'This entire station was built around the fragment?' Aldous thought as he noticed another sign on the wall, which had been covered by the stinking grimy moss. "Wear gloves. Electrical hazard."

"ROB WAIT!" Aldous was too late as Rob's bare hands grasped the metallic handle and the soldier yelled as his body begun to grow stiff and spasming. His knees buckled under his uncontrollable movement, bringing him to the ground. Cursing his lack of awareness, Aldous quickly made his hand glow with heat as a layer of protection and rushed forth to assist the electric shocked Rob. Grabbing the man's still tight hand, Aldous resisted the pain of the electric current and he wrenched Rob's hand away from the metal knob. The boy rolled to the ground beside the African American man as he tried to catch his breath. The episode had lasted no more than two minutes and the electricity had left its mark on Rob. Aldous gasped as he saw the branching redness that originated from Rob's right hand before arcing about his lower arm like a real lightning bolt. The man groaned as his body muscles continued to spasm, which to Aldous was a relief. The man was still alive.

"Damn...That felt like I was fighting with my wife..." Aldous sighed as he watched Rob flicker his eyes open, his unbreakable smile still on his face. The man had just escaped death by a mere second and even now he was still joking. Aldous didn't understand what's so powerful about a wife and so he let the joke slip. "Get up..." Aldous made sure Rob's body was completely earthed and uncharged as he brought the sweating man back to his two feet. "Next time, I take point..." Aldous insisted and Rob didn't have the energy to complain.

"Guess I wasn't that much use, huh?" Rob smiled apologetically as Aldous begun to freeze the dangerous door. "No, I would have died if I took that shock...You saved my life in fact...So I was just getting even with you..." Aldous muttered back and with a strong front kick he punched the frozen door right out of its hinges and the two entered the core room with much more caution.

The fragment was just like a Byakugou, though it glowed with a bright yellow. It floated in the center of the very advanced room and Aldous could make out the words "Project Thor" on the machine holding it. The machine was made out of a top and bottom technologically advanced platform and between them were 5 circular disks that spinned about with the fragment in the midst of all of them, creating a sort of hollow sphere. Thick grayish silver wires were the very walls of the room as they transported the electricity away from the room, likely to the power lines Aldous had spotted outside the station.

"This is..." Rob gawked as he left Aldous' support and began to explore the room. The room was just big enough to fit the machine and have a circular passage that surrounded it, just wide enough for two people to walk on it side-by-side safely. Aldous followed Rob once again as the man picked up what seemed like old papers on a metal table near the generator. "This is...amazing..." Aldous glanced at the papers over the excited Rob's shoulders but he couldn't read the English words. Why is English doing in a place like Japan anyway?

"What does it mean, Rob?" Aldous enquired as he gazed at the glowing fragment. The sensation of crackling electric energy was now exceedingly obvious and Aldous could feel his own hairs rise as the air vibrated with the exceeding energy. "This is a USA project...An American project..." Rob translated. "It's a way to harness the fragment's ability to create a clean sustainable energy and it used the front of a thermal station to mask its true identity...I can't believe it!"

"What can't you believe?"

"This project can produce more electricity than a nuclear reactor. It can make up to 10 of them..."

"What does a mere village need so much electricity? And why the hell would there be power shortages some time?"

"It says here that the station was still in development and the optimal vibration disks would be 50. Instead the project was cut short due to the war and the project was left with 5. Thus efficiency was cut by a huge amount and the project was marked as a failure."

"Wait a minute!" Aldous noticed something within Rob's translation. "Vibration disks?"

"That circular disk that spins about the fragment...Electricity is built with the vibration and the movement of the disk."

"Then the fragment doesn't create the electricity?" Aldous began to rub his ears. Something seems to be bothering them.

"No it doesn't. It..." Rob quickly flipped through the last few papers. "It doesn't say..."

Aldous could barely ignore it now. His ears are starting to scream as he tried to shake the ebbing pain off. "What is this?"

"Aldous?" Rob turned to look at his companion. "What's wrong?"

Aldous could now feel it. It wasn't something he could really hear, it was something he could just feel. A very high-pitch sensation that seemed to stabbing holes into his very ear drum.

"Argh..." Aldous roared as his hands glowed with heat. Summoning his strength he ripped off the disks from their spin and threw all to the side one by one. Rob dodged them all to his relief and he watched as Aldous wrenched the fragment from its levitating position. The vibration in the air now faded as Aldous' ears begun to relax.

"What happened? You know you just cut off power from the village?" Rob asked with a confused expression as Aldous replied with a stare, before looking on at the fragment now in his hand.

"Sound..."

"Huh?" Rob raised an eyebrow, his voice confused and worried.

"The fragment's ability was to manipulate sound waves..."

**Explanation: The reason why Rob wasn't affected was because his ears couldn't pick up the high-pitched screech that the fragment created. This is because as you get older, you unfortunately get worse hearing so a man like Rob couldn't hear the same frequency as Aldous. Also, if you are confused at how the sound produces electricity, the waves act as a vibrator and the cause the vibrator disks to well...vibrate and hence do their job as energy generators.**

**Hoep you like it and leave a review if you can!**


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